Camp Liberation: Forging Cross-Border Connections
Next month in Southern France, a group of French and Israeli (Jewish and Arab) will be gathering together during the Passover holiday. The camp’s theme is “Liberation from Slavery!” Similar gatherings have broken down barriers between teens from diverse, even hostile, cultures and backgrounds and forged lasting bonds of love and friendship.
Nevertheless I remain with you
I would like to reassure you about two things. Firstly, we should not be afraid. Never believe that God has abandoned us when we encounter situations that push us to our very limits and make us weep. This is to be expected.
God seeks fathers and mothers
Today, half of the world’s population is under fifteen years old. It is regrettable that so few women and even fewer men hear the call to reach out to these children and lift them out of the sea of misery, fear and hopelessness so that they too can find their true home
Oasis – Where lifelong friendships are made for building the Kingdom of God
Passover is an exciting time at the Oasis Christian Conference Center in Southern France as teens come together from France and Israel at Camp Conexion, a place where they grow together as family. It is more than a conference center and so much more than a week-long camp. It is a place of healing and refuge. It is where young people come together and develop relationships that impact them for a lifetime.
On the contrary – What is the connection between Joseph in Egypt and Purim?
The central principle in the story of Purim, the story of the Book of Esther, is that of opposites. This is reflected in the custom of dressing up on Purim: we dress up, to transform our identity into something else – to disguise ourselves from something different than what we are.
Family instead of a relationship of convenience
In this world, relationships of convenience always arise. People with similar interests meet and profit from one another until their interests change and separate them. Common sympathies, talent, knowledge, beauty and power all play a big role, and relationships are often chosen according to the criteria of their utility; we need others in order to have life.
The Healing Order of God
Revive Israel Community is reaching out to Messianic single mothers and their young children, the widows and orphans of today. The stories we hear break our hearts, and we see so many young believers growing up without fathers who have left home or divorced their mothers. These single mothers struggle to make ends meet.
Streams of living water
It can sometimes be extremely challenging to approach others and let them taste God’s love. As Jesus’ disciples we are all in a state of inner reconstruction, and we have many things inside that still require healing. It often takes time for Jesus’ image to slowly take shape within us. When we set off and open up to one another, we are often confronted with ingratitude, mistrust and arrogance. We may soon lose hope and faith for those around us;
A covenant with a Syrian
Israel has made a covenant with Syria. Well, not exactly today's Syria, but it was Jacob (Israel) who made a covenant with Laban, who could be the ancient father of Syria. God blesses Jacob as he works for Laban the Syrian, Jacob becomes rich and has children from his two wives, Leah and Rachel.
God’s love leads us into the light
If we love God and belong to him through Jesus, forming part of His body, we will radiate God’s nature to those around us. God loved the world so much that He gave what was most valuable to Him, His only Son ( John 3:16). In the letter to the Romans, it is written that He loved us while we were still His enemies. His love and commitment go far beyond all human sympathy and antipathy.
Unless
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24 NIV) Today’s world tells us to emphasize and empower ourselves, to advertise how beautiful our lives are, to shout out on social media how talented we are: “It’s all about me.”
A Father’s Strange Love
Recently we explored the parable of the "Prodigal Son" together in the discipleship program. Jesus tells three parables about things that are lost: a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son - prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). In the first parable the lost, hungry sheep is in danger of never being able to return to the flock. In the second parable, the owner of a lost coin searches even in dark places to find it.
Jewish Israeli Crucifixion
I am a Jew who was born and raised in Israel. My family has been here in the Land for more than a century, and my father's family was murdered in Europe during the Holocaust. Growing up in Israel, the cross was a symbol of evil for me; something foreign, distant, and alienated from everything I loved.
Sharing the Love of Yeshua, Serving Those in Need
We must give God's love. We receive God's love, but not only for ourselves. We must be a conduit of God's love and share it with others. To give His love to those on the street who need it most, to the ones who have nothing. Jesus said: He who believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from him. – John 7:38
In His Image – A Journey of Inner Healing
God predestined for us to be like Yeshua – this is the calling of every believer. As Disciples of Yeshua, we walk in His ways. We are called to model Him in our lives. We are not called to be God ourselves. But, as Scripture clearly says, and is our calling, we are to embark on a journey of internal change with the goal of conforming to and reflecting the image of Yeshua.
Revive Israel Discipleship – Avi’s Testimony: A Life Transformed
I always felt the pressures of this world weighing heavily on me, and negatively influencing my life. I tried many things to escape the pressures of this life, most of which just left me in despair. I knew I was in an unhealthy environment and needed a way out. I contacted one of the Messianic leaders in my community and said, “please take me away from here, I need to get away from here”.
Raphael Almeida – Vision for Worship
Meet Raphael Almeida, a worship leader and a beloved part of the Revive Israel Community with a passion, vision, and heart for worship! Raphael was born in Brazil but made aliyah (immigrated) to Israel with his family as a young boy. Today, he is married with two small children. From a young age, Raphael loved music and worship, the unique sounds of various instruments, and enjoyed singing in the
Abraham’s Tent
We live in a day and age when young people are pulled in every direction - perhaps even more so here in Israel with the cultural, political, and social divisions that exist even within the body of believers. Our hearts are for all young people to have a deep and intimate relationship with Yeshua. With God’s leading, discipleship has become an integral part of the heart, passion, and prayer of the Revive Israel Community.
If Yeshua Needed It… So Do I
Have you accepted the invitation? Cashed the open check? It’s actually a commandment you will not find in the Torah, but you will find throughout the New Testament. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul says, "Pray always;" And in verse 25, "Brothers, pray on our behalf." Why has it now become not just an invitation to be accepted, but also a commandment to be joyfully obeyed?
Double Paradox of Discipleship
Yeshua gives us an open invitation in Matthew 16, saying anyone can come and become His disciple!” The offer contains two conditions and one double paradox; “If anyone would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me” (v. 24). The paradox (seeming contradiction): “For he who wishes to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
Bearing Fruit x100
In Yeshua’s parable the soil is the heart on which the seed falls, and the seed is the word of God. How important it is to prepare the soil of our heart for the seed of the word of the Lord. We would all like to bear a 100-fold increase of fruit in the kingdom of God. Amazingly, God called Adam to invest in working the land in Genesis 2:5; and Yeshua calls us to a similar task as well,
When the Promise Suddenly Feels Light Years Away
Have you ever felt the amazing boost of imbibing a “now” rhema word from God? And then, soon afterwards, dipped into despair, hopelessness, or depression? Have you ever felt how the promise that just yesterday gave you faith and peace suddenly seems light years away from you? Last week I had such an experience.
Summer, Summer-Fruit & The End
I have become fascinated by the connection in Hebrew between these intertwined concepts above, just as here we have finally parted from the long, dry, hot summer. Yeshua created summertime and the summer fruit harvest as an agricultural parable of the deeper truths of fruition, completion, and ripening - of individuals, of mankind, and of His redemptive Story.
He → You
Psalm 23 begins with, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” In the beginning of the chapter, David refers to God in the third person. “HE makes me lie down in Green Pastures. HE leads me beside still waters.” He is the shepherd. But then in verse 4,“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for YOU are with me.”
Camp Conexion, Youth Outreach in France
In early July, an Israeli group of 16 teenagers, along with 6 Revive Israel adult instructors traveled to France to participate in the “K’sharim Connections” camp, to serve local French youth and experience God in new ways. (We had done a similar trip previously, for the first time, just before COVID.) The evening before the flight, we met at the Revive Israel Discipleship Center near Jerusalem, to get to know each other better.
Report on Revive Israel Discipleship Session
We just completed the 6th intensive discipleship session to be held in the last 24 months. The full-time, immersive program was called “40 Days of Fire.” Our time together was rich with activities and service. We worked on the organic community farm and held daily prayer and worship sessions. They take place both on our base in the community’s worship room and outside in nature on the farm grounds. Bible study is one of the most important ingredients in
Discipleship Initiatives Sprouting
This spring’s main discipleship training session, called “40 Days of Fire,” began successfully on the first day of May. We want to be "on fire" for the Lord, filled with love for Yeshua, and putting Him in the center of our lives. We started out with 8 students. Sadly, one of them had to drop out for now.
Only… be strong and very courageous (Joshua 1:7)
I once heard someone define courage as taking an action without knowing its outcome. The Lord is asking us to be strong and very courageous in our walk with Him, to trust fully in His good plan for our lives. In fact, we are in need of courage in every area of our lives – especially in relation to other people. We need courage to start a new job or finish an old one well.
Disciple making – from Genesis to YOU
Becoming disciples of Yeshua is a core value and commandment that comes up again and again in the writings of the New Testament. In Matthew 28:19 Yeshua told us to go and make disciples. But is this a new action only from the New Testament period? No. There is an unfolding development of discipleship from Genesis all the way to the Book of Revelation, just as there is also a gradual unveiling
Growing through Discipleship – Discipleship Program Report
At the end of September, right after the Fall Feasts, we started the third cycle of our extended discipleship program. The theme of this program is Reclining at Yeshua’s Side. We have five first-time students, most of whom came to the Lord in the past year, and four interns who graduated from previous programs at our center. All are accompanied by our devoted staff, led by Youval and Valerie Yanay.
What’s in front of you right now? What part of the wall are you called to rebuild in this season?
For the past year and a half, all of our lives have been affected by COVID-19 restrictions and disruptions. I feel like we all have had to stop and push “reset” on our lives. I believe God is calling us in a strategic way. He is positioning us for the next move from Him. I’ve personally had to change my approach. I used to travel internationally, then suddenly the gates for leaving Israel were closed.
We Discovered Our Calling as Women!
We just had a wonderful, week-long women’s workshop. The workshop was designed to gather women to seek the face of the Lord together, to experience working the land together, and to spend time together praying and praising the Lord. Every day we looked at the life of a woman from the Bible and extracted practical take-home lessons from her example and the things God did in her life.
Three Way Joint Effort & Fruit
During the Revive Israel discipleship programs, we bring the discipleship students to volunteer once a week on outreach with Moti Cohen of Tiferet Yeshua Congregation, among the homeless and destitute in south Tel Aviv. It was the last night of the program, the “last minute.” I was with several of our discipleship participants, walking in a horrible place where drug addicts usually reach the end of their lives.
Revive Israel Community Farm Discipleship Center
Youval and Valerie Yanay, Tal Robin and other staff members have developed a discipleship program over the past few years based on involving the students in hands-on organic farming. The name for the farm Day Three, was proposed by the Yanai’s son, Elad, as he noticed how God created plants on day three in Genesis chapter one. The program has been very successful, and has already borne much fruit, in more ways than one.
Training Troubled Recruits in the IDF And Training Discipleship Students at Revive Israel
Today I help lead discipleship programs at the Revive Israel Community Farm Discipleship Center in the Judean Hills. Several years back, during my IDF (Israel Defense Forces) compulsory service, I served as a drill sergeant for new recruits at Havat Hashomer (Farm of the Guard) – a basic training base in the Galilee, especially for problematic and underprivileged young men. In a regular army, these challenged young men might not even have been deemed fit to serve.
How I Came to Faith
I was born in Israel into a secular Jewish family with roots in the Land stretching back generations. My great-grandfather was a pioneer farmer in the Galilee. My father was a commander in the Palmach naval fighting units, starting before the Israeli War of Independence. But I always felt different, as if I didn’t belong. I had to search for a reason to wake up each morning.
New Platform for Discipleship and Evangelism to Israelis
It began during the Corona restrictions on public gatherings. Together with several others at Revive Israel and friends, we started to develop a modest-sized farming area, just several hundred meters from our offices, as a new platform for indigenous discipleship and evangelism to Israelis. There was suddenly this opportunity to bring into visible reality a vision that we have had for years.
Kingdom Seed – Spirit, Soul and Body
Have you ever seen one of those personalized world maps? The entire surface of the map is coated with a single “scratchable” color. Each time you visit a new country you scrape off that layer, revealing the color underneath. I believe the heavenly blueprint of the Kingdom of God is similar– fully there though unseen, and step by step the Lord is unveiling each facet, each nation, generation and color of His kingdom on earth.
Who is scared of honesty, authenticity and vulnerability?
Who is scared of honesty, authenticity and vulnerability? In today's world of technology, we can easily hide behind images and pictures (some even improved with the help of filter effects). No, this article isn't about bashing Facebook or Instagram. I have accounts on both, and am not intending to get rid of either any time soon.
Never Running Dry
A few months ago, I found myself sitting on my bed, praying, “Lord, crush me. Lord, crush me. Lord, crush me.” Immediately I thought, “What? What did I just say?!” I wasn’t too pleased with my own prayer, because I know that the Lord hears and answers. I honestly forgot about my prayer, and didn’t understand what was going on as I began to battle depressive thoughts.