 Welcome to Hope Today and thank you for joining us for a very special program. This is a program of prayer for Israel during Hanukkah. We all know the situation in Israel right now. We wanted to gather, everyone together, we've got some powerful prayer warriors and pastors with us today that are going to pray. We're all gonna be joining together in prayer for the land of Israel and for that situation that is happening right now. I wanna start off by reading a scripture to you. It's from Isaiah 62, it's verses six and seven and it says this, I've posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth and that is our heart, that is our desire right now that we would not give God rest, that we would bother the throne of God right now with prayer, beseeching him for Israel. We have a big group here, I'm gonna go over now to Amy and the group on the pod. What an honor it is to be watchmen on the wall and thank you so much for joining us today. I am here on the pod with some incredible pastors and Rabbi Jeff Kipp. We have Pastor Zach Blair and we have my main man of 28 years, Pastor Buck Schaefer and we are celebrating and supporting Israel and this time of Hanukkah. So I wanted to ask you, Rabbi Jeff, you know, what is the significance of Hanukkah for us as believers? Thank you, Amy and Shalom, everybody. I always like to share with folks that if there was no Hanukkah, there would be no Christmas. In other words, the festival of lights has everything to do with the birth of the one who is the light of the world. And about 168 years before the birth of the Messiah, there was, during the Greek Empire, there was a very fierce, godless leader by the name of Antiochus IV and he took over the Holy Land. God raised up a rendent to fight against him, the Maccabees, which actually means the hammer. And they were fighting, you know, the greatest, strongest army in the world in the Greek Syrian army. And it's an amazing story of how God used this small band to save rendent of Israel, to actually be able to defeat Antiochus and after three years, he just up and took his army and left. And the land was defiled by idolatries. He would set up an image of himself Antioch did and command people to sacrifice swine on the altar. He actually did that in the very Holy Temple itself. It was an abomination of desolation. And what happened was that God raised up a godly priest by the name of Matatias, who refused to bow the knee and sacrifice the swine and he and his sons slew the Greek troops that were there and they began to fight back resistance. And so if Antiochus and really Satan through him would have succeeded in completely wiping out the Jewish people, there would have been no messianic nation. There would have been no messianic people for the Messiah to be born into and through, you know, about 165 years later. So if there was no Hanukkah, there would be no Christmas. It is the festival of lights. Jesus himself, it says in the book of Revelation, walks amidst the seven golden menorahs. So in a nutshell, there's a miracle of Hanukkah and really leading up to the miracle of our Lord's, you know, virgin birth. And my favorite part is they only had enough oil for one night. That's right. And God did a mighty work, a miracle and extended the light. And so today, every time I see a menorah, I think it is our job and our responsibility, to bring the light and to keep the light moving. I know you have a powerful scripture in the book of Romans. Well, it's powerful that Judah Maccabees is actually down there at one of our military colleges standing up as a warrior. And what's interesting is that God would say us in America, just like the Jews, it might be time to stand up when someone's decimating the altar and the temple in the house of God and stand up for our freedom because we were founded upon Judeo-Christian values. So would we stand up, according to Hanukkah, with fighting and lighting? How powerful would that be? To be Jesus, according to He celebrated Hanukkah in John 10, 22, that we would not only fight, but we would light our lights. Amen. And you know, something significant for Pastor Buck and I, I'm not sure if you know this, but a Jewish man, Robert Levin, gave our church a free building. I mean, that is so significant and so huge and we have stewarded well that building, but there is something deep within us that is so grateful for our Jewish, Judeo-Christian connection that we have with the Jewish people and the believers out there. So what we're gonna ask you to do today during this program is we are going to pray and we're gonna each pray for different parts, but we want you to join with us. We want you to stand with us and we want you to celebrate with us and we want you to fight and be the light as well. So I'm gonna start off guys and then we're gonna throw it to the altar, but I'm gonna start by praying for the peace of Jerusalem. So will you pray with me? Father, we just come to you in the mighty name of Jesus. You are the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Jesus, you are a Hebrew, you are a Jew, and we have a Jewish Bible and the lands and the scriptures took place in the land of Israel. So we pray right now for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray that there would be Shalom within your walls. We pray that there would be quietness within your palaces. I also pray for the prosperity of all Jerusalem in Jesus' name. And I pray for friendly insiders that you get along even as I was there and I see that the Muslims, the Jews, and the Christians all living together. We just speak over that land. You get along in Jesus' name. We pray that any hostile outsiders that you would keep your distance and you would back away from the Jewish people in Jesus' name and the wicked hatred of Hamas and Hezbollah and Hitler and that wicked anti-Semitic rhetoric would stop in Jesus' name. And we speak peace within your walls and within your land. We thank you for the greatness that's there. We thank you for the city that's there. We thank you for the words that we live by that came from there in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, Pastor Zach. I've been processing, when you asked me to pray, I've been processing praying for the leadership of Israel, but also for the media regarding this matter. Because in people in younger generations, they don't know what to believe and I think it's an atrocity. We have to allow the Bible to be our guide, to be the sole source of our viewpoint. And today, that has just been scattered. We don't know what to believe. The Bible, search these things for yourself, look in the Bible, make sure that they're so and they are so. And so I wanna pray for the eyes of the media to be enlightened that truth comes out and also I wanna pray for the leadership of Israel. So Father, thank you in Jesus' name that just as I had mentioned, Father, the eyes of the media will be enlightened and they'll speak truth in Jesus' name. Thank you, Father, that there will not be a voice from the outside that will influence young people within our country and pull them into hatred and pull them into beliefs of wiping out people groups. God, in Jesus' name we stand against that. So Father, in Jesus' name now, I thank you for moving on our universities, on our colleges, all across the United States for true peace and for true love and for true acceptance that only comes through Christ. And so Father, thank you now. The eyes of the media will be enlightened, they'll be opened, but thank you, Father, now as well that in Israel all leadership is guided by the wisdom of God. Thank you, God, that they know how to navigate receiving hostages back and finding ways to open up doors, God, to do things that are wise, God, to do things that are right, Father, to protect, to defend and I thank you, God, for giving this nation divine wisdom. Father, thank you. Thank you for Prime Minister Netanyahu, God. I thank you in Jesus' name that God you lead him, that you speak to him and that you guide his hand and that you protect leadership, you put the right leaders in place and Father, they unite on what is right. Thank you, Father, these things will be done in Jesus' name. Today we wanna thank God for Jews, Christians and Arabs alike. We wanna pray for the whole Middle East. We wanna pray out God's word to the Greek word, to homologio, to say the same thing that God says. Simply, and I love Romans 11, what a statement we can make today as we pray, saying, rather than because of their stumbling salvation extends to the non-Jewish people in order to make Israel jealous and desire the very things of God has freely given them. So if the world would be greatly enriched through their failure and through the fall of great spiritual wealth as given to non-Jewish people, imagine how much more will Israel's awakening bring to us all. Father, we thank you for the church arising. We bind replacement theology. There is a place for Israel. There's a place for the Jews. Father, you said in Ephesians two, we'll come together as one new man, Father God. So we pray this, Lord, and as you said, as Paul the apostle would make them jealous, Father God, and a temporary rejection, but there would be a reconciliation in the world. What will happen when Israel's reinstated and reconciled to God? It will unleash resurrection power throughout the whole earth. Father, we pray that this resurrection power is released throughout the whole earth, Father God. And if the roots of the tree are holy and set apart, so will be the branches. God has grafted, Lord, us in as like stepchildren or joint partners to share, Father God. So we don't be so arrogant, Father God, to be superior to the branches. There's no reason to boast for the new branches don't support the root, but you owe your life to the root that supports you. So Father, beloved brothers and sisters, I want you to share the Jewish man, the apostle Paul, concerning Israel's future for understanding this mystery will keep you from thinking you know it all. A partial and temporary hardening of the gospel has come over Israel, which will last until the full number of the non-Jews has come into God's family. Then God will bring all of Israel to salvation. This is our prayer today, oh God. We lift up this prayer and we thank you for the beautiful Jewish people that there's a move of God in Squirrel Hill, there's a move of God in the United States, there's a move of God in Israel, in the Arabs and Palestine, in Jesus' name. Yeshua's name. Amen, Pastor Jeff. Yes, Lord, we pray for the hostages. Lord God, we just pray for you are a God of the miraculous. You are naturally supernatural. We pray for the moving father of your angels, your angelic host, you are the Adonai Zivot, the Lord of the armies of heaven and earth. Lord, would you do another miracle? Would you once again divide the Red Sea? Lord God, people are feeling hopeless, they're feeling powerless, they're feeling tremendous despair. Lord God, we pray for just healing for all those that have just been bereft. Rachel is weeping, Lord, her children are not. Lord God, there's great lamentation in the land. Husbands and sons and daughters and wives and children and grandchildren have been decimated, have been brutalized. Many of them held in captivity, Lord God, in darkness with sexual abuse and the most abominations. Lord, would you do a miracle and just set them free? Somehow bring them back. Lord God, bring them out of captivity, let them be found, let them be discovered. Lord God, would you give great wisdom and Father God's supernatural vision and discernment to the IDF and to the leadership and Father to find, Father to prisoners of Zion and bring them out, save them, rescue them and more, Father, the most important thing would you bring salvation. Father, even to the hostages and to the people, the young men and women that are serving in the IDF, Lord God and all the people, Father, would you, Father, now begin to pour out that spirit of grace and supplication that they would look upon the one who was pierced, Lord God. You have promised that that day would come even now that we speak into it, we prophesy it, we, Father God, that you would just move, Father God and breathe upon these bones that they may live and Father, pour out that spirit of grace and supplication that they may, Father, recognize Yeshua, we pray for their salvation physically as well as spiritually in Yeshua's name, amen. Amen. Amen, Pastor Frank. Lord, we pray now, we come before you, Heavenly Father and we ask you for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit over your people, Lord God. May you feel them, Lord God. Father in heaven, we pray in the spirit of Zechariah 4.6 that they may understand that it's not by might, that it's not by power, but by the Holy Spirit, God, that their hearts will turn to you, God, that the victory will be one in which your people will become your holy people. They will turn to you, God. Lord, we know, we understand, Lord God, you're in control of everything. We know that you are using all circumstances in our lives and in their lives to turn them to you, God, Father in heaven and we know that this can only be made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit, God. We pray today that you will, only the Holy Spirit can write your desires in their hearts, Lord God, and you desire for them to become your holy people, all, Lord God. Lord, you want to come back and reign on this earth and you want to come back and reign with people that are led by the Spirit. So today we pray, Lord God, please, that you will fill in with the Holy Spirit, God, politicians, teachers, Lord God, the military, the Father in heaven, the reignant that is now in Israel, Lord God, your holy reignant, God, that they will be Father in heaven infused with a power from on high to turn to you, to fight, to believe, to persevere, God, and to preach the gospel. Strengthen them, strengthen them, Lord God, and let them see the victory that will come from you, Lord God, for you are coming back for a people that are led by the Spirit, that are infused with power from on high to accomplish amazing things, including the defeat of the enemy. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. Father, it's so amazing and prophetic that the eyes of the entire world are on Israel in this hour. Father, nations are in the valley of decision, multitudes, Father, multitudes in the valley of decision as they behold what's happening to your covenant people in Israel. Father, thank you for waking up your church and raising up more watchmen. Father, that would stand before you in the gap on behalf of that land, that ancient land, that ancient people, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his land, his covenant land. Father, awaken your church. Thank you, Lord God. Wake up your church, Father, and raise up more intercessor, watchmen on the wall that will cry out day and night and remind you of your word and hold you to your word and take you at your word. Father, thank you for strengthening the intercessors all over the world, all over this nation. Father, that have it in their heart to stand for Israel, to pray over that nation, to pray for those people, to see your will done. Father, thank you for raising up more intercessors to stand in the gap in this hour in Jesus' name. Jesus, thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Father, we so thank you that you said that you would raise up the age-old foundations, that we would be the restores of the breach, some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we remember you. We remember your name, the name of Jesus today. And those age-old foundations we affirm and confess to the principalities and powers of the air, those age-old foundations that were established and once again emerging will not be destroyed at all, that you are Jesus, the builder of your church, the builder of your nation of Israel, the builder of your covenant people. And we pray in the name of Jesus Christ for the governments of the United States of America and the European Union particularly. We pray against the anti-Semitism and everything that would try to destroy. Lord, help them to see how foolish and how useful it is to try to fight against you, the king of the city of the great king, even our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would raise up leaders in this nation who would stand boldly and say we cannot fight against. Lord, let them be as the old time in Egypt when they were dealing back and forth with Pharaoh's sorcerers and Moses when they finally came to the conclusion we cannot fight against this God. I pray that you would bring leaders in the United States of America and throughout Europe and the entire world, including the Arab world, that we cannot fight against this God. Lord, help them to see how futile it is that they cannot fight against the age-old foundations because you are raising them up and we pray that in the name of Jesus Christ. We pray for the conviction of sin, of righteousness and judgment on everyone who sees that they can in any way frustrate your purposes and frustrate your plans. And we thank you for those lives that everybody is saying have been destroyed, that they can never be the same. You are the repairer of the breach. You are the one who can heal the brokenhearted. And we thank you for that and believe in you for that in the name of Jesus today. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Father, we thank you so much for this moment that you are awakening your church, even in the midst of a war. There are people, Father, they don't even know what it means to connect with your Jewish people. They don't understand, Father, the scriptures. And so you're using this to awaken your church. And so God, I thank you God that through this, God, we can also pray for the innocent lives that have been taken, God, through this war. We pray for children, Father, and parents and families that have been made hostage and innocent blood that has been shed, Father, you're near to the brokenhearted. So we pray, Father, for every broken heart. I pray, Father, that even as you enlighten us as your people on this journey, God, that every local church will awaken that will evolve and say, I'm not even connected to the Jewish journey. I don't even know what the Torah is. I don't understand the Jewish Hanukkah. God, you're awakening us. You're giving us an understanding that we need to know. You told us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. It's in scripture. And so, Father, as we learn your word and understand this journey, may we not miss this moment to be awakened as your people. So we continue to pray for the innocent, Father. We thank you that there will be answers, supernatural resources, people need counseling, they're traumatized. There's so much that has happened, Father, that has been shared. Like in Jacob, you changed Jacob's name to Israel and that is the church, way local church in America and around the world. In Jesus' name, hallelujah, amen. Amen, amen. Thank you, Father. Lord, as we are here at your altar, we lift up Israel and your holy people. And Lord, in this season of Hanukkah, we pray for a Hanukkah miracle. Lord, a miracle for your nation, for your holy people. In Jesus' name, Lord, fight their battle. Defeat their enemies, Lord. Truly, bite of the world through in Jesus' name. And you know, Catherine Coleman used to say that the Bible is more current than tomorrow morning's newspaper. And in Zephaniah chapter two, there's such a prophetic word that is so relevant for today. In verse four of Zephaniah two, it says, Gaza shall be forsaken. And with all the bombings going on, it is being forsaken right now. But then it says in verse seven, for the Lord their God, the God of Israel, will intervene for them and return their captives. And Lord, we stand on captive. The American captives, the Israeli captives will... Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He, the emotion, the heart of God, that is the heart of God for Jerusalem and for all people and for you. And we just wanna pray right now. We wanna pray that God's purposes will be accomplished in Jerusalem, but also in your own lives. Let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you. You are not a God who casts us out, but you're a God who draws us to yourself, Lord. You're a God who has a heart and concern for his people, Lord, and I pray, Lord, that many will know Messiah in Jerusalem, Lord. That many will know Messiah in that region, Lord, that they will understand that you came and you lived and you died and you rose again. And we can have newness of life because of that. I pray for the gospel to flourish in that region, Lord. And I pray for many to come from near and far and come to know you as Savior and Lord. And we ask it in Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen. Yes! Let's continue to pray. Let's go back over to Amy. Wow, that was so powerful. And we just wanna say thank you. Thank you for those that are praying. Thank you for those watchmen on the wall. Thank you for those that have a heart for Israel. Thank you for those that are praying for Gaza and the Palestinians and the hostages. And we pray that God would wipe out, not people, but the wicked in Jesus' name. And I love the scripture in Jeremiah 31. It says, at that time declares the Lord, I will be their God, the God of all of the families of Israel and they will be my people. This is what the Lord says. The people who survived the sword will find favor in the wilderness. And I love this and I'll finish with this. I will come to give rest to Israel. So we just pray a peace and a rest over Israel. And I'm reminded just as we close this program today of the incredible story of Esther, where Haman is about to wipe out the entire Jewish race. And Esther's in this place of decision and her uncle Mordecai says, listen Esther, you can keep your mouth silent. You cannot stand. You can sit down and live in the palace. You can have a good life. But don't think that if you're quiet, that deliverance will not come from some other place because it will. But who knows Esther, if you've been born for such a time as this. If ever it was the time for the body of Christ to rise up, it's now. It's the time to wake up. It's the time to be alert. It's the time to be prayed up. It's the time to be revived up. I mean, this isn't the time to get lost in your own feelings, in your own life, in your own world. Let's think about others. Let's think about the world. Let's think about the coming of Christ. Let's think about the body of Christ. Let's live these last days passionate about the King and the Kingdom and its people and the Jewish people. So we thank you today for joining us as we are praying for Israel during this time of Hanukkah. So we say to all of our Jewish family and friends, happy Hanukkah. And shalom. And we say to all of our Christian brothers and sisters, peace be to you and Merry Christmas. We'll see you again.