This is part two of a special two-week Chanukah podcast, and it will be my last podcast of 2020 - see you in the new year!

📌But how much do you know about Chanukah?

📌Why is it celebrated by the Jewish people?

📌What’s the story behind it?

📌Did you know the dynasty that began with a family known as the Maccabees greatly influenced the nation of Israel for several centuries - even touching the lives of Jesus and the apostles?

🕎The story of Chanukah and the Maccabees speaks of a light breaking through the darkness. But in this second part, we also look at Jesus at Chanukah, and the issue of covid and mental health.

Chanukah begins in the evening of Thursday, 10th December and ends in the evening of Friday, 18th December 2020. So, in this podcast I'm sharing part one of a special two-week Chanukah podcast.

But how much do you know about Chanukah?

Why is it celebrated by the Jewish people?

What’s the story behind it?

Did you know the dynasty that began with a family known as the Maccabees greatly influenced the nation of Israel for several centuries - even touching the lives of Jesus and the apostles?

The story of Chanukah and the Maccabees speaks of a light breaking through the darkness. So here begins a story…

Walking through the Yad Vashem's Children's Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem, Israel, brought a very difficult discovery for me regarding our name. But are names important? And if names are important, then by changing names in the Bible, are we distorting the message? To watch an accompanying short video to this podcast, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4vMnVbc_ms&t=10s

So... we are back in lockdown in England, and this plague isn't going away anytime soon. But where are we in the days leading up to Biblically fulfilled prophecies? Are we really in the "End Days"? The Biblical Church in Paul's days thought they were in the "Last Days'. Was the Church thinking they were in the "End Days" during the Spanish Flu in 1920? What about during WW1 or WW2? And what of the Middle East with Israel? What of the alleged "Peace Plans"? What of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authorities? And are we in the days of approaching Chariots of Fire?

Seven Reasons on Why Israel:

1) Jesus’ Disciples were concerned... So shouldn’t we? - Acts 1:6-7

2) God is concerned over the nation of Israel - Jeremiah 31:35; Psalm 105:8-11.

3) God Commands us to uphold Israel’s capital in prayer - Psalm 122

4) God is faithful to His Word ~ He keeps His promises - Isaiah 11:11-12

5) The evangelical Church pre 1948 were very concerned about the restoration of Israel: The modern State of Israel is a culmination of a vision for the restoration of the Jewish people to their Biblical homeland which had developed in the Church in Great Britain over the previous three hundred years.

6) It is not for Israel’s sake, but for the hallowing of God’s Holy Name... - Ezekiel 36: 1 to 38

7) God's Name -YHWH (Yahweh - יהוה ) is written in the topography of the Land of Israel at Shilo/Bethel.

To understand this difficult issue, one has to first understand a little bit about the heartbeat of God and of God’s covenant relationship regarding this controversial subject. I’d like to look at the issue of “Why Israel?” In doing so, I’d like to deal with, and hopefully answer a few of the common questions I’m often asked, such as: “What do you think about what is happening in the Middle East with the Arab/Israeli issue?”

Why is this one nation, located on a tiny sliver of land along the Mediterranean Coast, so much in the news these days? And what do current events concerning Israel have to do with the promised return of Yeshua (Jesus) and the prophetic plans of God for Israel and for our world? As Christians, should we really be bothered about this tiny nation, thousands of miles away in the Middle East? Find out more in this podcast.

Episode 23 Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) - To Walk With God

The word for 'winter' in the Scriptures is the Hebrew word ‘setav’. Setav means the season of hiding or the time of darkness… Nisan [in the Spring] however, is the month that ends the season of darkness, that breaks the death of winter. Nisan is the month when the earth again bears its fruit, and its flowers again begin to blossom. Nisan is the month of new life… Messiah's coming is our Nisan, that which ends the winter of our lives and begins the spring of our lives.” As I reflected on this, I pondered, as a nation, as ‘the world’, and even with our own walk of faith, where are we actually at? Could this Covid 19 be ‘the winter of our lives?’ ‘The season of our darkness?’ ‘The time of our hiding?’ ‘The days of living in the shadows... the season of our barrenness... when our life can't bear the fruit it was meant to bear?’ Or could it be a time for us to pursue with renewed passion, a deeper walk with God?

In Genesis 5:24 we read, ‘Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.’ In Genesis 6:9, we read, ‘Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God…’ Both Enoch and Noah walked with God… or alternatively, they ‘tabernacled’ with God.

The Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated as outlined in Leviticus 23:33-43. So how do we 'walk with God this Sukkot?' Find out in this podcast.

It's Rosh Hashanah... otherwise known as 'The Jewish New Year'. But can the church learn anything from this wonderful festival? This holiday is instituted in Leviticus 23:24-25 and the shofar (a ram's horn) is blown at this time of the year.

It is believed that on Rosh Hashanah the destiny of all mankind is recorded by God in the Book of Life. After Rosh Hashanah services, as the congregants leave the synagogue, they say to each other... "May you be inscribed in the Book of Life".

Thinking of the Book of Life, perhaps we should also think in relation to God’s book ~ the Word of God ~ The Bible. Is this inscribed in our lives? And if not, how can we do this? There is so much more than meets the eye regarding this festival... Find out more in Episode 22 here.

Three times God had laid Israel on my heart, and three times I'd thrown it back in His face. No one but me (and God of course) knew this. Three times I'd told God, “I don’t want it… give it to someone else!”

However, once I'd agreed that obedience was better than running away, the Lord soon enabled all that Julia and I were doing in the North of England to blossom and grow.

In many ways it is like how the cogs on a clock work. Put the correct cogs in place; use the machinery in the right way, and soon the whole thing comes together. Once you are in the place that God wants you to be, things run much easier... or do they? Find out more in episode 21...

Back in 1995 God spoke to me clearly in two ways. The first was when I cried out to God as Israel had been suffering terrorist attacks from Islamic extremists. The front page of the Daily Telegraph had a photo of an Orthodox Jew holding his small child in his arms – however the child was dead due to being caught up in a terrorist attack. I can remember being so shocked, knowing this child wasn’t any bigger than our son at the time. “Why God” I cried… “Why didn’t you spare this child, and why isn’t anyone standing in the gap for Your people.” Well, I could almost hear God tapping His fingers on His throne as He said, “But I called you and you haven’t listened to My call.”

Oh boy… I can’t describe the feelings deep within… sorry doesn’t come in to it. Then, a man knocked on our door telling me to “Repent”. The man said, “David, repent… for three times God has laid Israel on your heart, and three times you have thrown it back in His face. Stop complaining and repent and do what God has asked of you.”

Doing what you should be doing isn't always the easiest thing to do... and God might have to drive you into a barren, dry place, so He can to speak to you. But know for sure, the Wilderness is a place where God trains His special forces. In Episode 20, I attempt to tell it as it was... and still is. The footprints in sand have be made... 🥾🥾The journey continues...