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Israel Ground Zero - Part 3
David Davis

David Davis (1938–2017). Born in 1938 in the United States, David Davis was the founding pastor of Kehilat HaCarmel, a Messianic congregation on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. A former Broadway and off-Broadway actor and chairman of Fordham University’s Division of Arts at Lincoln Center, he experienced a dramatic conversion during a 1980s revival among New York’s performing artists, where he met his Jewish wife, Karen. Mentored by David Wilkerson of Times Square Church, he ministered to drug addicts and alcoholics before moving to Israel in 1989. In 1990, he and Karen founded Beit Nitzachon (House of Victory), Israel’s first Bible-based rehabilitation center for Jewish and Arab men, in Haifa. In 1991, with Peter Tsukahira, they established Kehilat HaCarmel, growing it from a Bible study above House of Victory into a vibrant congregation emphasizing the “one new man” vision of unity from Ephesians 2:15. Davis served as senior pastor for 25 years, known for his prophetic teaching, shepherd’s heart, and mentorship of leaders like Dani Sayag, who succeeded him. He authored no major books but inspired ministries like Or HaCarmel women’s shelter and Raven’s Basket feeding program. After battling cancer, he died on May 7, 2017, in Haifa, survived by Karen and two adopted sons, saying, “The Word of God is sufficient to change any life.”
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In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of boasting only in the cross of Jesus Christ. He shares a personal experience of feeling empowered by the Word of God, comparing it to carrying dynamite in his bag. The preacher recounts a powerful moment when he shared the Word of God and witnessed three people kneeling and weeping, followed by a larger group coming forward. He then transitions to discussing outreach efforts in Haifa, Israel, where they preach the Gospel in Hebrew and Arabic. The preacher also reflects on the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and how it led him to seek guidance from God on how to preach to drug addicts in a dangerous area. Ultimately, he received a clear message from God to "show them my son," emphasizing the importance of sharing Jesus with others.
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We're on the top of Mount Carmel where Elijah the prophet called down the fire and the people fell on their face and said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. Well, the fire is starting to fall on Mount Carmel again. The presence of God is returning to Israel and Mount Carmel. Jews and Arabs are turning to the Lord here more than any time since the book of Acts. Communities, residential communities of Jews and Arabs coming off of life-controlling problems. Women's shelter for refugees and for battered women, Jews and Arabs together. Yes, the fire is falling again. The valley behind me here, awesome things are about to happen there too. This is the Jezreel Valley. Megiddo is around the corner. And most Bible scholars believe this is where there's about to be a tremendous battle of armies coming against Israel. Armies from the nations. The Lord will intervene. It will impact all the nations, particularly Europe and Germany. So it's most important that we know what God is doing in Israel now and what he's about to do. So join me now, if you will, the series of messages on Israel, the nations and the end times. I was just thinking as we were worshiping the Lord. Tonight, we do outreach on the beach at Haifa at the foot of Mount Carmel, beautiful beach. And we have a team that goes out and worships the Lord in Hebrew and Arabic. We preach the gospel. The police come and watch and listen. And it was interesting that last time I was, last summer, I remember a Muslim that came off of drugs with us. He really fell in love with the Lord and really loved the word of God. And I saw him speaking to a policeman. And I thought, this is incredible. This ex-Muslim is talking to this Jewish policeman. So I was walking around the group and praying in tongues. So I was just walking by, kind of listening to what was going on. And he was speaking in Arabic. And I realized the policeman was a Muslim. See, in Haifa, Jews and Arabs live together. Our football team, Haifa, Maccabi Haifa, we're the best, hallelujah. It's Jews and Arabs. All the hospitals, the doctors are Jews and Arabs. And right by where we do our outreach, which will be happening tonight, there's a wonderful restaurant called Maxim. It's owned by Jews and Arabs. And they have great food. A lot of people go there. It's well known. And it's a symbol in Haifa of reconciliation or coexistence that Jews and Arabs can live together and work together and have a business together. And several years ago, on a Saturday, on a Shabbat, a lot of Jews eat there that don't keep Shabbat. We're a very secular city, not a very religious city. And a lot of Jews don't believe in God because of the Holocaust to begin with. But it's packed out with Jews and Arabs eating lunch on Saturdays. A young lady walked in with a backpack on and went past the guard. He was distracted. And she blew herself up with 29 Jews and Arabs, grandparents, parents, children, kids, body parts, all over the whole restaurant was blown up. And we now do outreach a couple hundred yards from there where Arabs can witness to Jews and Jews can witness to Jews and Jews can witness to Arabs. So I want to pray for this outreach. Lord, I just bring Jonathan and a team before you tonight. We ask you, Lord, to anoint the worship, that the glory of God will come down on the beach at Haifa, that you will return to Israel in the power of the spirit. We pray, Lord, that there would be boldness in the witness. We thank you, Lord, for our evangelists, our teams, the people that go out and witness to you, bringing a harvest even tonight in Israel. And these days, Lord, you brought these people back here to meet you. Let some of them meet you tonight, Lord. So all these Russians that are on the beach, they've never been to a beach. Lord, let the word of the Lord go forth tonight. We pray in Jesus wonderful name. Amen. I want to call this message this morning, Israel at Ground Zero, Israel at Ground Zero, and I'll make it hopefully clear as we go along. One of the things I'd like to clarify is if you would turn in your Bible might help if you see it. Matthew. Chapter 20, chapter one, verse no, chapter two, verse 20, Matthew to 20. Arise and take the young child and his mother and go to the land of Israel for those who sought to kill the young child's life are dead. An angel speaks to Mary and Joseph in Egypt and says, it's time to go back to Israel. And what I want to point out is it says Israel. This is the New Testament. You can go through the New Testament, see Israel, Israel, God's purposes for Israel. It was called Israel in the time of Jesus. A lot of people think it was called Palestine. It wasn't. It was it's read the New Testament in the New Testament. In the year 135 A.D., after the second temple had been destroyed, there was an uprising against the Romans. I led by a man named Bar Kokba. Somebody some people thought he was the Messiah who had rejected Jesus. And it was a terrible, bloody affair. And then Titus, the general of the Romans, slaughtered all of these Jews. And there was horrible, horrible warfare and bloodshed and destruction. And he tried to throw all the Jews out of the land. And the Romans changed the name of Israel to Palestina. After the Jews, ancient enemies, the Philistines that we heard about this morning when Jay was talking about David and the Philistines. So the name was changed to try to eradicate Israel. So it wasn't even called Israel anymore. And so as it was changed to Palestina, Palestina was named after the Philistines, which were the great enemies of Israel. You know, with David fighting the Philistines and Goliath and all that. The Philistines were a seagoing group of people, people group that came from Crete and lived along what is now the Gaza Strip, where all the trouble is. That's where the Philistines live. They were not Arabs. The Palestinians, who are Arabs, who call themselves Palestinians, came from what today is Saudi Arabia. That was the Arabian Peninsula. So there's all this confusion about Israel today. And all I wanted to point out to you is Israel in the New Testament is Israel. Jesus said, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel until the Son of Man comes. We're walking in that right now, trying to set up testimonies in all the towns of Israel, Arab and Jewish towns. So you can go through the New Testaments and see all about Israel. If you really want to understand it in a deeper way. I thank you for all those that have been coming to me saying you have greater clarity now on Israel and so on. Just study Romans 11. It's all there. I mean, it is right in the middle of the great Roman letter. You can't avoid it if you just read it and study it. And I could teach that this morning, but I really feel I told Pastor Nick I had something else in my heart. In September, on September 11th, 2001. These two airplanes. Gigantic jumbo jets filled with people and filled with gasoline that had just taken off, filled with petrol. When slamming into the Twin Towers, the symbol of American capitalism. And you all watched it. And we went to our youth pastors place and we watched it. And as the as the towers came down. There was a shower, a huge shower of like a white cloud of dust. People were jumping out of windows 90 stories up to get away from the flames, just leaping out of windows. And as everybody was running from the horror, the shower, this cloud came down on them and they had all this white dust over them and they weren't sure what it was. And then doctors quickly realized. It was the dust. Of human bones and flesh. That had been poured out all over that part of New York City and on the people. I love New York. I know it has all kinds of problems. I lived there for 20 years. I never want to go back. God called me to Israel. I'm an Israeli. Hallelujah. But I love to visit once in a while. And I live not far from there. So it was really horrifying to me. When I went to New York, it was six months later after 9-11. I got on the subway and I went down to where the Twin Towers had been. They call it Ground Zero. And what was there in those days was this huge pit where over 3,000 people died that day, or about 3,000. And down there in all the rubbish and all the garbage and the filth, it looked like hell. And in the midst of it, some New York policemen, probably Irishmen, found a big piece of metal that had a crack in it. It had a crossbeam on it, a metal crossbeam, and they stuck it up, and it was a cross, and they put concrete around it, and they lit it at night. And so when I came down there and I saw that place of hatred and devastation and destruction and mass murder, there in the middle of it was the cross. We need to get to Ground Zero, where we're at the end of ourselves, and all we have is the cross. The Church of Ireland needs to get to Ground Zero. I need to get to Ground Zero every morning, where it's all of Him and none of me. Sometimes later, a person that's very close to me that I'd been praying for and trying to witness to for a long, long time, an American. We happened to be in New York City ministering at Times Square Church, and he called me. He lived about five hours away from New York, and he said, Are you doing any meetings in New York? And I said, Yeah, tomorrow night I'm doing one. He said, Can I come? I knew the Lord was drawing him. So he drove five hours to get to New York, and I met with him, and I said to him, Let's go down to Ground Zero. We got on the subway. It was very crowded in the afternoon, no place to sit, and you're all scrunched up with one another holding on. And I was praying in tongues under my breath about how to witness to him. He looked at me in this crowded subway and started crying, and he said, I want Jesus. He got saved in the subway. We went to Ground Zero, and there was the cross. And I said, It's all about the cross. It's all about the cross. Glory to God. We need to get to that place where there's nothing of us. When I was first asked to preach, I knew how to give a speech. I was a university professor as well as an actor and all that, but I didn't know how to preach. I still don't know how to preach. I don't know. David Wilkerson never taught me how to preach. I never studied hermeneutics and all that stuff. I mean, I understand it and all that. And so when I was asked to go and preach at a place called the Upper Room that Times Square Church had back in those days, it was on a place called Crack Alley where drug addicts lived in the streets and lived in cardboard boxes. It was dangerous to go into the place. And I was going to go in there and talk to those guys. And so I sought the Lord. And I was at ground zero because I didn't know how to do it. And I was scared. And I kept saying, Lord, how do you preach? How? How? And finally, in the quiet of this place where I was alone with him at what I call ground zero, he gave me four words. Show them my son. That's what it's all about. That's what Ireland needs. That's what Israel needs. That's what Islam needs. That's what the world needs. I preached for about 20 minutes from Galatians 6, 14. God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me. I just spoke on that for about 20 minutes and talked about Jesus. I closed my eyes and prayed and said, if you want him, come up here. I was praying, Lord, that one person come to you. As I was going up there on the subway, I had my little black bag with my Bible in it. Other people were sitting there with their bags like Wall Street brokers or women that were shopping. And I had the distinct impression that in my bag I had dynamite. I almost looked like I was just going to blow up. I knew I had the word of God. So when I just shared that word of God and closed my eyes and prayed, I opened my eyes and there were three people kneeling there weeping. Then the whole place came forward. Show them my son. It is so simple and we complicate it so much. Ireland needs to know the son of God. We need to get to ground zero where there's none of us and it's all of him day after day after day that more and more of the life of Jesus is flowing through us. That's what needs to happen on the beach at Haifa tonight. If anybody is going to get touched by the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. When we moved to Israel, we were in the middle of a war the first year we were there. And when we would run through the night putting on our bomb shelters, putting on our gas masks to get in our bomb shelter, I'm telling you something. We were ground zero because we didn't know what was going to happen. God watched over us. When the first missiles hit Haifa and hit the mountain, the mountain shook. And we didn't know if it was gas or not. In the morning we heard the birds. We were up all night praying, of course. And we said, it's not gas. It's not chemicals. We went outside. We looked at the port of Haifa. It's a beautiful port. The rockets were raining down on it. The first missile I ever saw came up over Haifa Bay. We got down on our knees and said, God is watching over Israel once again. Hallelujah. The sign of the covenant. We found out later the first missile that hit Haifa missed the major oil storage area by 50 yards. The whole port would have gone up in flames. Israelis have a sense of humor, you know. They said, yeah, we fought the seven-day war. We fought six days and then rested. You know. But there's a mall there where that scud hit. You know what we call it? Scud mall. Hallelujah. Now, Israel is going to get saved. There's going to be a national revival. It's in the word of God. And let's see how it's going to happen. Let's go to Zechariah chapter 12. Zechariah the 12th chapter. We're talking about Israel at ground zero. One way you could think about it is when Jacob came back to the land. He'd been gone 21 years. He came back into the land and God wrestled with him and dislocated his hip. That rascal Jacob. I don't point my finger at him because I was just like him. And I'm trying not to be like him. And he dislocated his hip. And I call it victory's limp. The morning he woke up and he was limping. The pride was broken. He was terrified that his brother was coming with 400 men, of course. But his pride was broken. And he limped over Peniel and saw the face of God. And God changed his name to Israel. In a sense, that's where Israel is now. Jacob has come back. And God is starting to wrestle with the people again. Just like he's wrestled with you and continues to wrestle with you. And he wants to change your name from Jacob, unrepentant, unredeemed, to Israel, a prince with God. And our nation, in that sense, is coming prophetically to that point. Now look at Zechariah chapter 12. Here's what's coming in Israel. Verse 9. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I hope you realize the nations are going to come against Jerusalem. They already are. Maybe not with armies yet, except for Muslim armies. The U.N. We could go on and on. Your nation. The President of America. You could go on and on. Israel once again feels alone. So the nations are going to come against them. But the Lord is going to deal with them. That's why you need to pray for your government. Pray for Ireland. And look what happens. When all this pressure, when Jacob comes under all this pressure and is alone, the Lord is going to manifest himself to them. And he's going to show them his son. Hallelujah. That's where we're coming. When a Jew realizes it was Jesus all along, they weep. They say, why did the rabbis miss him? What were the Pharisees thinking? How did this happen? The common people wanted him. He's ours. We thought he was the Christian. We thought he was the Jew. He's ours too. I mean, it's amazing when a Jew comes to the Lord and the veil falls off and they see who he is. And it says in verse 10, And I will pour on the house of David on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. When you say Jerusalem, you mean Israel. When we say London, the London government, you're talking about England. When you say Washington, you're talking about America. Jerusalem represents all of Israel. He says, I will pour out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the spirit of grace. Who is the spirit of grace? This is the Holy Spirit. There's a great downpouring of the Holy Spirit coming on the people of Israel. I will pour out on the house of David and the house of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication. We're going to be on our knees weeping and crying out to the Lord. We'll be at ground zero when the army isn't going to make it anymore. Where America is not going to help us. We're going to be crying out saying, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Hallelujah. He says there will be the spirit of grace and supplication and they will look on me. They will see Jesus. Show them my son. The father is going to show them the son. Whom they pierce. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son. If your only son died, would you mourn? There would be if somebody's son in here died, a father would mourn like mourning you never heard before. The whole nation. The restored nation is going to be mourning like they're mourning for an only son. They will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for the firstborn in that day. And this day is coming. Hallelujah. In that day, the Jews had to be back in the land before it could be fulfilled. It's happening. In that day, there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadad, Romaine, Ramon in the land of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn. It is going to be like an anointing of. I don't know how to what it's going to be. The whole nation is going to be mourning. When the people were blown up in our city and when a bus two blocks from where we live blew up and our younger adopted son had just gotten off that bus, he changed his mind and all these kids died and body parts were all over our streets. Our whole city was in mourning. There's a memorial there. They put flowers there still and candles and the names of those boys and girls that were blown up on the streets. But this is going to be a national. Repentance. And mourning and grief. Every family by families. The family of the house of David by itself, the wives, wives, mourning the family of the house of Nathan by itself, the wives by themselves, the family of the house of Levi and by itself and so on. All the families that remain every family by itself and their wives and by themselves. Can you imagine families on their knees weeping with the children and the grandchildren and the mothers and the single moms? This great morning that is coming. Israel is being brought by the Lord to ground zero when they will have nowhere to look but to Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Is it part of his end time purposes? It will be life from the dead like the world has never seen. It will impact the whole world. And then he's coming back and his feet will be on the Mount of Olives. Hallelujah. Praise Lord. Look at verse 13. In that day. A fountain shall be open for the house of David for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. That fountain is already open. It's open for Ireland. It's open for Iran. It's open for Indonesia. It's open for Africa. And it's open for the Jews. They just don't know it. And when they see him, there is going to be a fountain for salvation and cleanliness. It's the blood of Jesus on the land and on the people. Verse two. In that day, says the Lord, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land. Our land is filled with idolatry and so is yours. The names are going to be cut off. Secular humanism. We can do it without God. Atheism and all the rest of it. All the New Age cults and everything else. False religion. The idols are going to be destroyed. They shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets, the unclean spirits to depart from the land. False prophets. Unclean spirit. Can you imagine a revival where the unclean spirits swept through Dublin? Woo! Hallelujah. Glory to God. Israel is being brought to ground zero. And I want to say this to you, hopefully in humility. The Irish church. I smell revival. I know that God wants to do something here in this land. I've smelled it since we were in Dublin. It's the scent of water. But the church needs to come to ground zero. You've got to deal with what we heard about last night. Offenses. If you don't deal with people that offended you, you'll miss what God has for you. You know, when we first moved to Israel, somebody wrote a letter about us. It was a lie. And sent it all over the world. It offended me. It was about me and my wife. So I called him up. He started screaming at me on the phone. I forgave him. I mean, I had to get on my knees and forgive that person. It was an offense. But I was free. Some years later, I was preaching in a conference somewhere. And I saw him sitting in the audience with his wife. He came to the altar. And after the meeting, he said, can I have lunch with you? I said, sure, let's go. We sit in this restaurant. In a hotel. I said to Karen, whispered to Karen, he's finally going to ask forgiveness. So he sits there, and we talk about everything. The bill comes. He had invited me to lunch, and I ended up paying for the lunch. And he never said, forgive me for writing lies about it. Look, I'm free. I don't know where he's at, but that's his problem. But we need to get to that place, like we heard last night. Because offenses are going to come. But whoa, by who they come, Jesus said. Get ready to be offended. Get ready to land down and walk in freedom. Hallelujah. For more information visit www.FEMA.gov
Israel Ground Zero - Part 3
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David Davis (1938–2017). Born in 1938 in the United States, David Davis was the founding pastor of Kehilat HaCarmel, a Messianic congregation on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. A former Broadway and off-Broadway actor and chairman of Fordham University’s Division of Arts at Lincoln Center, he experienced a dramatic conversion during a 1980s revival among New York’s performing artists, where he met his Jewish wife, Karen. Mentored by David Wilkerson of Times Square Church, he ministered to drug addicts and alcoholics before moving to Israel in 1989. In 1990, he and Karen founded Beit Nitzachon (House of Victory), Israel’s first Bible-based rehabilitation center for Jewish and Arab men, in Haifa. In 1991, with Peter Tsukahira, they established Kehilat HaCarmel, growing it from a Bible study above House of Victory into a vibrant congregation emphasizing the “one new man” vision of unity from Ephesians 2:15. Davis served as senior pastor for 25 years, known for his prophetic teaching, shepherd’s heart, and mentorship of leaders like Dani Sayag, who succeeded him. He authored no major books but inspired ministries like Or HaCarmel women’s shelter and Raven’s Basket feeding program. After battling cancer, he died on May 7, 2017, in Haifa, survived by Karen and two adopted sons, saying, “The Word of God is sufficient to change any life.”