 Jesus is the king of kings and the Lord of lords and He is Lord over your life. We're so glad that you're joining us on Hope Today. I am here with Tom and we have a Power Pack show just for you. So, Tom, tell us about our first guest that's coming up today. That's right. We do have a Power Pack show. You know, we all enjoy Old Testament stories. You probably have some favorites. I have some favorites too. David, Joseph, there's so many great stories there. So much biblical truth there. But did you know that the writers of the Old Testament were looking towards the coming Messiah. And coming up, author Oceania Fleiss will share some light with us on hints of Jesus' birth kind of woven through the Old Testament. We're coming up upon Advent and she's going to give us practical thoughts on how those stories, how they apply to our lives today. You know, with Advent coming up, I mean, people are playing Christmas music. I wait until December 1st myself. But, you know, that whole concept of Advent, of the arrival of Jesus leading up to that, there's so much in the Old Testament about that. Yeah, we're definitely looking forward to that. And also, you don't want to miss, had a conversation with Rania Sayeg. She's one of our dear ministry partners. She is located in Nazareth, Israel. And she has some insights that she wants to share with you, just on her experiences of what's going on in the war, and also some prayer points. I know a lot of us have been warring for what's going on over in Israel. And so we just know that it's so important for us to grab arms, lock hands, and to bind together in prayer, because we know that God is at an Isavaiot, that he's the Lord of the angel armies. And we're just believing for God to have this way on both sides and for Jesus to be glorified in the midst of it. So you don't want to miss our upcoming interview with Rania. That's going to be a great discussion. And, you know, if you want prayer, we always have prayer partners standing by. You can call our prayer line at any time. The number is there on your screen and get prayer for whatever is concerning you and your family. Well, hey, the weather's turning cold. The year is passing fast. I had to wear my winter coat this morning. The Advent season will be here before we know it. And in Oceania Fleiss's new book, Awaiting the Manger, Whispers of Advent in the Old Testament, Oceania invites readers not to rush through the 25 days of Advent, but to relish those days by delving into the timeless stories of the Old Testament. Oceania, welcome to Hope Today. Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. Well, let me ask you. You know, I grew up in a church that really didn't use the term Advent, but there's been a lot more Christians and churches turning towards using Advent and using those weeks leading up to Christmas. Could you just explain what Advent is for those who may not be familiar? Sure, I'd be happy to. Advent has been around for hundreds of years. I think they say the first record of it is like around 480, so really early on. It was just a time to reflect on Jesus the first, the four weeks before Christmas. And they started having like an Advent wreath, which is like a wreath that you don't hang, wreath you think of hanging on the wall, you know, but this kind of wreath is just you set it on your table and it has four or five candles and each candle you light on the Sundays before Christmas. And then there's the Christmas or the Christ candle that you do on Christmas Eve. And it's just a time to, well, back where it started, it was a time to reflect on the second Advent as we're waiting for the first Advent of Jesus, his birth, that they would think about, oh, he's coming again. And let's not forget that. But now it's kind of morphed into just a time to help us remember in all the chaos, in all the shopping and the ads and the parties and the dressing up and making food and all those things to go, wait, why are we doing this? Let's focus on Jesus and what the real meaning is that that matters right now. I think that is wonderful and great. Now I remember when I was in college seeing one of those wreaths for the first time in the church I was going to in college, they would light those candles like that leading up to Christmas. So let me ask you about your book. Again, Awaiting the Manger. I love that title. Let me know why you decided to concentrate on the Old Testament stories. Well, years ago, I had studied the Bible quite a bit and in my 20s or so I had been a Christian for a while and I'd gone to Christian college and I really thought that I knew everything about the Bible by my 20s. I thought, I know everything. There's nothing else for me to learn. I started getting a little bored with the Bible even which is just horrible. And my friend of mine was like, well, you know what, there's more to the Bible I think than you realize. And she took me to this verse in Luke 24 and it says, I don't want to get wrong. It says, beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And so Jesus was that was on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection and he was talking to these men and he said the whole scripture is about me. Jesus said that and he said that not just that time there's other spots too and that just like blew my mind opened my mind and to see that I sure didn't know everything about the Bible. There's so much I didn't know that the Old Testament was pointing to Jesus. It all points to him all those stories. I mean, he went through Moses and the prophets that means the whole Old Testament is really about Jesus and that kind of helped me to really get excited about the Old Testament again and see as I read it to see him in all of it. And then that over the years I taught a homeschool co-op Bible for middle schoolers which was super fun and I learned more and more that was 15 years of just learning about the Bible as you're teaching you always learn so much. And as I was going along there wasn't a moment when I was like, Hey, I'm going to write a book. It was more like, Hey, this this section specifically seems to be talking about the birth of Jesus. And this section does too. And I started just writing little notes to myself and little devotionals. And eventually I was like, I think I could write a book about this and I just prayed about it and so grateful that the Lord opened the door for this book to come out. Yeah. And I love how you have it set up with, you know, you have some practical things at the end of each entry. But let me ask you about the characters in the Old Testament. The Bible in the New Testament tells us that these Old Testament Hall of Faith people were people just like us. So tell me if there one particularly that you identify with. Yeah, there's so many really all of them are so, like you said, they're just like us and they're so broken. Most of them and hurting and the Lord is so kind in general to each one. But one that I really love so much is the story of Leah. So it kind of have to go back to Jacob. So Jacob was the son of Isaac and he had to leave his homeland for various reasons. You can look up and went to live and he fell in love with a girl named Rachel and he worked hard for the father of Rachel to be able to marry her. And then when it was time to get married, he kind of tricked the father tricked her, tricked him and gave him Leah as his bride instead. And poor Leah, she was not the one that was chosen. She was the hated bride. Says that she was even considered to be the hated one. And yet we see this, her story unfold as she's longing for the love of her husband Jacob because he eventually did marry Rachel, her sister too. And she was always longing for that same love that he had for Rachel. And I think we all can relate to that, like just that longing for love. And she cried out to God and said, Lord, if I just could have a baby, then my husband would love me. And God so graciously gave her a baby. And she ended up having that same scenario three times where she was saying, Lord, if only I could have another baby, then he would love me. And this theme of these babies coming and God's graciously giving her these babies. And yet Jacob still never loved her. And so by the fourth baby, when he was born, she decided to name that baby Judah. And Judah means praise. And it's like by the time she got to that point in her life, it's almost like she was hit, she had hit rock bottom. She was just desperate. She wasn't feeling loved by her husband. She was feeling rejected. And yet finally, with this fourth child, she says, this time I will praise the Lord. And that just, we can just relate to that. I can relate to that so much, that desperate cry for Jesus, a cried for it to be loved. And then finally realizing the only one that's really going to love me is the Lord. But there's more to the story than just that because I mean, that alone is super cool, right? But when you look at Judah himself, this fourth child, he was born from the hated wife. And he's the fourth and not the firstborn. So he's not necessarily supposed to be the leader of their clan, but he becomes the leader not only of the clan, but of the whole southern kingdom of Israel. When the land gets broken into two kingdoms, the whole southern kingdom is called Judah after him. He wasn't around at that time, but it's all his legacy was that huge kingdom of Judah. And not only that, but even more exciting is that the Judah is where the Messiah, the tribe the Messiah came from. So Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. So it's just so like our Lord to take this humble son of the hated woman, the hated wife, and not even the firstborn, and to send his son to be in that very tribe. And it just is so encouraging to know who God is and how much he loves someone like Judah and someone like Leah and someone like me and you. Yeah, that, I mean, just right there, there's so much spiritual insight and you have many, many entries like that in your book. And you have the practical application at the end of each one too, where you tell the story of it, then you have that application. And you also have a hymn. I have to ask you, do you have like a favorite Christmas hymn? We call them Christmas carols, but we're not talking about secular songs here. We're talking about songs with a great depth of meaning. Do you have a favorite one? You know, that's like picking your favorite child, I think. One that I really love, and I think is appropriate at the time right now, is Okami Manuel. I mean, there's such a longing for the Savior in that one. And that just fits with the theme of my book, of that waiting, awaiting the manger, waiting for him. And the words in ransom captive Israel, that just means a lot right now. So yeah, I think that one that has a lot of meaning to me at the moment. Yeah, that is great. Well, I really recommend the book. Again, it's called Awaiting the Manger, Whispers of Advent in the Old Testament by Oceana Fleiss. Oceana, thank you so much for being with us today. And thank you for writing this book. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you so much for having me. All right. Yeah, it's really got so much richness in the Old Testament relating to Jesus. Yeah, I love how she said about Emmanuel, that is God with us. And we know that God is with the people in Israel. He's with the people all over the world. And when we come back, you're going to hear Ronja Syag from House of Prayer and Exploits from Nazareth, Israel. Stay tuned. In this month of Thanksgiving, we're excited to send you this special daily gratitude journal with your best gift. This easy to use journal will encourage you to bookend each day with short personal reflections that bring insight and intentionality to your busy and always changing life. How can six simple questions help you better navigate life's uncertainty? Bestselling author Tish Ochsenreiter invites you to lean into the rhythms that each morning and evening offers with a twice daily thought exercise focusing on gratitude, truth, grace, and more. As you reflect on three key questions near the beginning and end of your day, you will be more poised and prepared for whatever God has for you in the hours between. Request your gratitude journal today when you give. Call 888-665-4483 or donate online at ctvn.org slash donate. Thank you for giving to Cornerstone Television. As the war in Israel continues to escalate, one of our dear friends of the ministry, Rania Syag, lives in Nazareth, and she's the founder of House of Prayer and Exploits in Rania. We are so blessed to just have you with us today. Thank you so much, Sydney. It's always a privilege to connect with our Cornerstone family. Sending you all greetings from here in the midst of this crisis. Yeah, Rania, can you just tell us what is it like right now to be there, and what is God prophetically even revealing to you now? Yeah, well, first of all, just really greeting everyone here from Nazareth. And as all of you have been informed, we have entered a very, I would say, big crisis since the 7th of October. And we have never experienced such a war before in that scale. We've found ourselves surprisingly being under an attack of Hamas terrorists from Gaza. And many have been, the figures say that around 1,500 have been murdered, very, very cruel atrocities and a lot of pain in the land and a trauma. Plus to the wounded of around 2,500, they say, and there are also around 240 hostages being taken into Gaza right now. And so we found ourselves really in a very big crisis right now. But it didn't end up here. It actually seems that the enemy is trying to stir up a wider scale war zone with the rest of the region here in the Middle East. So basically today, Israel is finding herself being surrounded with a couple of fronts, front lines of missiles coming in. We have five sides now. Basically, the country here is warring within the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon. And now surprisingly, Yemen has released a couple of missiles now to Elat to the southern part of Israel. Has joined the rest of the region and sending missiles. So this was really just today this morning. So we've really been in a very difficult situation right now. Thankfully, here in Nazareth, the Lord's been protecting us. We've been going on for since the war, the seventh praying daily, Sydney, crying out on the walls. Many young people are flooding into the house of prayer. Women, men, and young people coming into the house of prayer daily. In the evenings, we have four or five hours of intercession, worship, and prayer with our worship team going very strong, just pounding on the walls, crying out day and night that the Lord will release mercy and protect the land as well as, of course, establish His kingdom here in the land. Because we believe that the enemy has released a big attempt to abort what God wants to do here in the land and especially the harvest that we've been crying out for in Israel. So basically, I believe there is a birthing that is taking place right now, meaning in the spirit realm, talking prophetically speaking, that God wants to do great things here in the Middle East. And we know that specifically the Isaiah 19 highway nations and the fulfillment of the prophetic word Isaiah saw thousands years before for the Middle East, the nations of the Assyria, Egypt, and Israel coming together, being a blessing on the earth, the enemies attempting to raise the war zone among these specific nations that God has intended right before in his heart, speaking about these nations to become a blessing on the earth. And today we're finding ourselves in a big war zone in the midst of these nations that are supposed to be the center of blessing. Definitely the enemy is targeting that. And we must know God's will for this and we must know how to pray specifically for Israel for both the Jew and the Arab. And when we talk here about prayer, we never take any sides talking about the innocent. Yes, the innocent citizens who have paid a lot, a big, big price, a lot of soldiers in Israel, a lot of the innocent citizens in Gaza have paid with their lives, thousands have died there, thousands have died here. So we've been crying out that this war would be shortened and the Lord will raise up the global family to stand alongside and birth with us what God intends for this season because his heart is to release peace in the region and for the kingdom to expand in ways that he has intended for his will to be established in Israel. The work that we have established here for many years between reconciliation, between Jews and Arabs is under attack because the enemy wants to abort what we have built for the past 20, 25 years, Sydney. It is just so like even in the midst of the turmoil and like what is going on, I just love to just hear about the prayer and the intercession and I know just that unity that is coming together is truly reaching the nostrils of God and the fragrance of God and believing that we're going to see like just a revival. We're going to see God move in such a powerful way and just Ron and you, we just have a little time left. Can you just share it specifically how we can join forces with you in prayer? What can we specifically pray for here in America for Israel? Yeah, yes. I would really encourage all the intercessors that are listening to me to pray for angelic armies all over the land of Israel to be released that there will be a protection around all the borders. Right now we are in danger because many fronts has opened up. So praying with us that the angelic host would begin to be mobilized, we believing the Lord for the help because we're trusting the Lord that our help will come from the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth. And that's what the Bible says. So we're lifting up our hands and crying out daily here that you would join us for the release of the help from heaven to us, the angelic forces to unite with us as we pray and continue to fortify the gates of this nation. And also pray for the exposure of any attempts of terrorism around the nation from any borders and then especially in the northern side as more is heating up, you know. And Hezbollah is attempting now to do more and send more missiles and it's a little bit heating up more in the northern part of Israel. We covet your prayers to pray for the protection of the northern gate because the army in the Lebanon side is much stronger than the one in the south and this could have devastating results on the land of Israel if a big front opens up from the north. So we really covet your prayers to keep on, to pray, to restrain the enemy from any destruction, further destruction over the land and for Lebanon because Lebanon also is struggling right now and cannot even go further in any war because of the crisis they have, even internal crises. So also please pray for the salvation of the Jews and the Arabs. During this time we're believing the Lord for harvest. We're preparing ourselves to even send help for food and other people, you know, they are in danger or in need. So we can also reach them with the gospel and the love of Christ in the midst of this crisis and it's definitely a fertile ground right now to express our hearts and love for both the Jew and the Arab in the midst of war. Please also pray for Israel's government and leaders. We need, you know, that our leaders here to take wise decisions, very important to move not with anger or bitterness but really righteous decisions that we would not be dragged into a wider scale or even bigger war with Iran because that's very dangerous for us and for the whole region. It would not be dragged everyone inside such a bigger scale of war. So also please, at the end, I would ask to pray for our intercessors and our team here that's going strong every day. We need strength from the Lord. We need his revelations. We need his wisdom. We need informed intercession from the heaven, from the throne room of God and how to war with him for his will to be established and his kingdom to be expanding here in the land of Israel. So please pray for us for protection and protection over the lower part of the galley so we can really be able to continue to do what we need to do and not to be, you know, put in a situation we have to be in shelters every day and not being able to cry out to the Lord and united because this unity that's been taking place in the House of Prayer is becoming a real powerful force in the northern gate of Israel. As a House of Prayer, we with other one or two really that are pounding daily on the walls. So we need strength and for our team, the worship team that are standing together in unity. So and we really so thankful for you, Sydney and all our global family. We cannot really express our gratitude and love and appreciation for all those are standing crying out because what happens with Israel will affect the whole world and that really matters to everyone who is listening and hearing what we are sharing today. Amen. Thank you so much, Sydney, for this opportunity. Oh, thank you so much, Rania, for all that you're doing now. We are standing with you in praying. God bless you. Thank you so much, Sydney. Blessings from our hearts to yours. Well, from our hearts to theirs, they're right in Israel, in Nazareth, praying every night, five and six hours, interceding for the situation when you're on the ground in a place like that. That's some place where you're going to intercede. And Sydney, there were so many good points that she brought out to pray for, including the salvation of Arabs and Jews. Yeah, I think this is something that, you know, intercession is key. And I've just been hearing so many different prophetic voices in this season where we got to get our prayers up. We are in a completely different season. We're in a completely different era of time. We know on the Hebrew calendar, we just celebrated New Year, it's the year of the open door. But I truly believe that God is inviting us as the Ecclesia, as the body of Christ, to intercede and to pray and to bombard heaven like never before. And so just even praying for, I know one of my favorite names for God is Adonai Savaiot. And Rania talked about, you know, the angel armies. Adonai Savaiot means the Lord of the angel armies. And so we just want to take a moment right now and just end the program and just to, would you just come with us and gather with us as we're going to take a moment to pray. So Father God, we thank you in the mighty name of Jesus. We call on you Adonai Savaiot, the Lord of the angel armies. Father God, in the mighty name of Jesus, we ask Lord God that you would cover Israel from the North, South, East and West, Father God. God, even right now, we pray for Gaza. We pray, Father God, even for the blast that happened on the refugee camp, Father God, and how many lives have been lost, Father God, with the Palestinians and the Jews, Father God. Holy Spirit, we ask that you would come. Holy Spirit, we ask that you would move. Holy Spirit, we even ask that you would just even disrupt the plans of the enemy with Hamas and Hezbollah, Father God, that you would send dreams that they would see Yeshua, that they would see Jesus. And Father God, we thank you and we praise you for what you are doing. We thank you and we praise you because you are good no matter what is happening and everything that's breaking out. We know Jesus, that you are mighty to save. We know Jesus, that you are the only name that we can call on and we can be saved. So we ask, O God, that you would come. And Lord God, we pray for America today. We pray, Holy Spirit, that from the North, South, East and West, that you would protect our borders, Father God. We plead the blood of Jesus over this nation, O God. And we pray, Father God, that the church would rise like never before. Lord God, would we awake out of our sleep, Lord God, and know that this is the hour that you are calling us to come nigh and draw near to you, O Lord God. So we thank you and we praise you for all that you are. In Jesus' name, amen. We are so grateful for you. We are the kingdom family and we know our hope is in Jesus and Jesus alone. We love you. Have a great day. Good one.