Grafted Into the Promise with Dan and Meg Price

Part 2: Dan Price Presentation

Dan Price: I want to thank Lamb & Lion for inviting us to be here today. We are actually on the tail end of a trip here to the States because our youngest daughter was getting her doctorate and just finished, and we were here for her graduation, and she’s actually our Texan who was born in the Woodlands. And we happen to still be here in the States when Tim had asked us, and we said, “Yes, we’d love to come and talk with you all and share with you.” And so I want to give y’all a little bit of that today.

One of the things that Tim wanted us to talk about was being grafted into the promise. But for Meg and for me, it was really more about being drafted into the promise. One of the things that Tim said was–is that as we were getting a little bit older, when we should be enjoying our grandkids, that was when the Lord called us to go. And that is actually true. That is exactly what happened. And it was, as much as a surprise to us as to anyone, but the Lord made it unmistakable that He wanted us to go.

But I want to tell you the story about how that happened because we haven’t always lived in Israel when we were going to the Middle East. Originally, we were supposed to go to Syria. And let me tell you the story about how that occurred because–and I think we’ll set the stage a bit for why we are standing here today.

So back in 2007, it’s hard to believe that was 18 years ago. In 2007, I was an elder in a church in Louisville, Kentucky, and I also was on the missions committee. One of the things that we did was I sat on that committee and we decided that year that we wanted to focus some work on a particular country, but we didn’t know which country that was going to be.

And so while we were praying about that as a committee, one day, about six months later after we had decided this, I was sitting in my office because we came out of the business world, I was sitting in my office and I remember thinking to the Lord, praying to the Lord, “Lord, you know we’ve been talking about this on our missions committee for months now, almost six months. So where is it that you want us to focus?” And He said very clearly, “I want you to focus on Syria.”

Now, this is in 2007. And I said, “Absolutely not. Don’t you know who those people are? They hate your people, Israel, and they hate us.” And the Lord said, “I want you to recommend Syria.” And I said, “But Lord, what about Italy? Italians need Jesus just as much as anyone else and they have great food.” And the Lord said, “I want you to recommend Syria.” And I was getting ready to say, “But.” and He said, “Remember Jonah.” I understood what He meant. I thought I did.

So in the intervening time, I thought that the Lord basically wanted us as a church to focus on Syria. But in the years that followed, the two or three years that followed, He made it very evident that He wanted for Meg and me to go. And when someone asked the question, “Don’t you think that maybe the Lord is calling you to go?” And I said, “God is going to have to speak with Meg directly because she has a grandson.”

I see a lot of married couples here. And if one of you heard from the Lord and the Lord said, “I want you to move around the world to a Muslim country and hadn’t yet spoken to your wife,” I guarantee you you would be telling God, “You’re going to have to do this for me because I can’t do it.” Well, God did. And that’s a different story for her to tell. But how many of you have had plans in your life, but God had something else in plan for you, in store for you?

You know, the story reminds me of this verse, this following passage. It’s from Galatians 3. “So also Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham. All nations will be blessed through you. So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus.”

And so we went. As I said, it was unexpected. We put a team in Jordan. And you might ask the question, “Why in Jordan?” Well, in the time that it took us–that the Lord called us and for us to start to go, we were doing an internship in Cyprus, in the Turkish side of Cyprus. And it was a one school; it was a school year internship. And while we were there, the Syrian civil war started, and we knew that we still needed to learn Arabic. And so the question was, how are we going to do this?

And I think you may, some of you may have been here before. We actually lived on a kibbutz in Israel for six months, doing an intensive Arabic program as part of our training. But then we had to continue and we went to Jordan, even though the war was still going on. And right about the time that we got to Jordan, the Syrian refugees started arriving. And we lived in a little town right next to the desert called Madaba. It’s in the Bible. It’s in the Old Testament. You can read about it there.

And we put a team there. And that team still exists today. It still is doing great work in Madaba today. We asked the Lord, “Do you want us to move closer to the border with Syria?” And He was like, “No, I want you to remain there.” And about six months after we moved to Jordan, the Lord sent the first Syrian refugee family into our midst. And in fact, that Syrian refugee family was on their way to Israel. How’s that possible? The young boy had a heart defect that only they could fix in Israel, and there was a special organization that brought these kids over to Israel and he was on his way. And that was the first family that we met there that had been from Syria.

In the next couple of weeks or three weeks or so, we met another 40 or 50 Syrian families. And then they kept coming and coming and coming. We were surprised at what happened because the Lord didn’t let us go to Syria, but in that time, He sent Syria to us. And in that time, we saw a number of people come to the Lord who were Muslims, who were Syrians, who were Palestinians, all the enemies of Israel. And we were wondering, “Lord, you know, it’s so strange that we’re here because we love Israel so much, and yet you’ve sent us to a people who hate Israel so much.”

Well, as we continued with the team, as we continued to do ministry, both physical ministry and outreach, people were coming to the Lord. And in one year, we had planned on two trips to Israel. Now, you can imagine that there were people who would like to come and visit us while we were in Jordan, but you’re only about from here to Baruch, a river that wide. I mean, the Jordan River is not very wide. And it was like, “Well, let’s take people over to Israel while we’re here, while they’re here.”

And so we would take them over to Israel. And in one year, we had planned two trips, but instead, we made seven trips to Israel. And I remember, I think it was on the fifth or the sixth one, the immigration officer there, she said, “You sure have been here a lot.” And I said, “Yeah, I know, but, you know, this is just kind of the way it’s worked out.” But we were being drawn to Israel during that period of time. And it was because of a people group that has not really been very open to the Gospel.

And you might think, “Well, are they Jews?” No, they’re not Jews. Are they Muslims? No, they’re not Muslims. When we were living in Jordan, my boss came to visit us one time and we went to a Messianic congregation in Netanya. And while we were there, I was visiting with someone from one of the organizations there in Israel. And I was asking him about the people group called the Druze, and that’s D-R-U-Z-E. Not Druids, but Druze. And he said, he said, “You know?” He said, “Let me tell you a little bit about them.” And so he did. And he said, “Do you know who the two most resistant to the Gospel people groups are in the world?”

Now, his organization has been around a really long time, and they have a lot of statistics to go by. And I said, “I have no idea.” And he said, Jews and Druze. And I remember at the end of that trip, we met with one of their workers who had been working with the Druze in the Galilee. And I had asked him, “How many people had come to the Lord in the 40 years that he had been working?” And he said, “This many.” And he said, “I’m sure of two.” And I remember getting into the taxi on the other side of the river as we were going home to Madaba in Jordan, and I thanked the Lord. And I was looking at the dry mountains of Jordan, and I said, “Oh, thank you Lord for sending us to Muslims and not to the Druze.”

One year later, we’re sitting with the same person. And he’s saying, “You know what? If the Lord is calling you to the Druze, I think we can sponsor visas for you.” Which is unheard of, if you know anything about how Israel does not like to have non-Jews living there. And so as we were drafted once again, going from Jordan over to Israel, it reminds me of this passage here in Ephesians.

“Therefore, remember that formerly you were Gentiles by birth, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Consequently, you’re no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household.”

And so four years finished in Jordan and we moved to Israel, and we moved to the Golan Heights. And while we were there, one of the first things that a person does or a family does when they move to Israel is you have to learn Hebrew. This is the language of the people. And so we lived in a place called Katzrin, and they had a government-run ulpan. Ulpan means studio in Hebrew, but it’s, what everyone knows, is the Hebrew language learning.

And so we did ulpan while we were in Katzrin. And we had a wonderful ulpan teacher. We loved her to death. And of course, she wasn’t able to teach every single day. And we had a substitute one day. And I remember, he was a religious Jew, and he was very curious because out of all of the people that were in our class, we had about 20 in our class, Meg and I were the only goyim, we were the only Gentiles. And it had been told to him that we were also Christians. And so it’s a very curious thing to have these Christians in this Hebrew ulpan.

And so he, we were talking at a break one time, and he said, “I don’t understand, Dan, explain to me how it is that you’re here.” And so we talked a little bit about it. And he was very concerned because one of the things that we are accused of is basically paying people to become believers. It’s a strange thing. The word missionary in Israel is a very, very bad word. You don’t use that word. We use it here because we understand what it means, but there, it can mean something different.

And so I was having a discussion with him and I told him, I said, “You know, Christians, we’re not here to replace you. That’s not our intention at all. We have been grafted into the promise that was made to Abraham.” And in Romans 11, these are verses that we’ve actually already touched on a little bit, but I want to read this. “And you, although a wild olive chute, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember, it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you.”

And I read that verse to him, and of course it’s from the New Testament, it’s forbidden. But he found it very interesting that this was something that he had never heard before. And so that began the ministry that the Lord drafted us into in Israel. And it was not something that we ever expected. Well, after about a year and a half of living in Katzrin in the Golan Heights, the Lord moved us to a place called Neve Ativ. Now, Neve Ativ is a little moshav. A moshav is a small neighborhood. It’s kind of like a kibbutz, similar. And it was up on Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon, as you would call it.

And we lived in the middle of four Druze communities up there on Mount Hermon. And it was the fulfillment of something that the Lord gave us when He was calling us to move from Jordan and go over to Israel. And I remember having this discussion with Meg, and that was a long time ago now. And it’s from Isaiah 65:1. And I want to read that verse. “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here I am. Here I am.'” Hineni. Hineni.

The Lord was calling us to a group of people that don’t know Him, don’t know to ask for Him, and are lost. But the Lord is saying, “Here I am. Here I am.” And who is it that’s going to be able to tell the Gospel to these people? And so again, we’re drafted into this job that we never expected in the beginning, ever expected.

Part 3: Transition to Meg’s Response

Tim Moore: Dan made an important point that is easy to overlook. Even though I asked him to speak about being grafted into the branch, the righteous branch, he emphasized that God actually drafts us into the role He calls us to. Our rightful response is always, “Hineni”, which means “Here I am” in Hebrew. That is how Abraham responded to God’s call. And his belief in God demonstrated by his willingness to go where God would lead him was credited as righteousness.

Nathan Jones: With all the trauma inflicted on Israel over the years, Jews take notice when a Gentile chooses to live among them and suffer with them. And Dan and Meghan said, “Hineni,” demonstrating their sacrificial love for Israelis by living with them in order to share the sacrificial love of Yeshua.

Meg Price: If I could just say, as a Gentile, a believer in Jesus living in Israel, with the rise of antisemitism and our Israeli friends, you’ve heard the expression, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” And Dan says that the Israelis, the Jews don’t care what we have to share with them until they know that we’re willing to suffer with them. And when they see us (you) standing with them, they look at us and they say, “You don’t have to be here during the war. Why are you here?” And when we get to explain to them that it’s because of our love for the Messiah, Yeshua, it speaks volumes to them that they don’t necessarily want to hear in words in other ways.

Part 4: Brief Q&A with Dan and Meg Price

Tim Moore: One of my questions addressed the long suspicion of Jews toward those who claim to represent Christ but seem to want to curse instead of bless the Jewish people. I asked Dan and Meg to describe their experience living in the land of Israel.

Meg Price: I will say, and this is maybe not answering the question, but when we went on our first trip with Lamb & Lion to Israel, I guess I was naive, but I thought that Israelis, Jews loved us as we loved them. And living there, I have to say that I found out that that’s not necessarily the case, and they are suspicious of us and why we are there.

Tim Moore: As Gentiles or as Christians?

Meg Price: As Christians.

Tim Moore: Kind of what was spoken to earlier about the Christians, as Meg has said, we’re the source of persecution in the Jewish collective memory too often. How can we overcome that as Gentiles? What has been your experience to try to show, again, not so much of what we know, but how much we care so that what we know is received. And then what suggestions would you other fellows have?

Dan Price: Well, what Meg said is true. We are suspects, and we do not hide that we are believers in Yeshua, that is who we are. But we have lived on two different moshavim. And in those two, we have always been the only Gentiles on the moshav. And therefore, we are not only not trusted, but we are a curiosity at the same time. And so it’s very interesting when we do end up having conversations with our neighbors of substance, that they say, “Well, that’s actually not what I understood about Christians before.”

And many times they will say, “How are you even here?” Because we’ve lived in Israel now for 9 1/2 years. And I will say, “Well, we have a visa.” And they’ll say, “What kind of visa?” And I will say, “Ish dat.” Ish dat means clergymen. And they’ll say, “Yes, but you don’t have the collar and you’re married.” And I’ll say, “Yes, there’s many different kinds of us.” And so their view, as I heard earlier in some of the presentations, is that Catholics are like their understanding of who Christians are. And we are the only Protestants, the only evangelicals that they’ve ever met in person. And so we’re not the devils that they’re taught that we are.

Tim Moore: I’ll answer as a follow up, even before Avi. How many of you know a Jew personally? Have you ever thought that maybe you’re the only evangelical that they really will get to know personally? And you say, “Well, they don’t know me very well.” Well, whose fault is that? You may be not, just in Israel, but here in the U.S., even in Dallas, y’all, or New Jersey, the only evangelical that a particular Jew will know.

Meg Price: And they’re always watching.

Tim Moore: Boy, isn’t that a scary thought?

Closing

Nathan Jones: You know, it’s sobering to think that many Jews fear, or at least suspect Christians because of all the persecution they have suffered over the years.

Tim Moore: Absolutely. You have to realize that from the Jewish perspective, the nations that abused them the worst throughout most of the past 2,000 years were ostensibly Christian. And that was true throughout the West, even with enlightened ideas.

And although we think of the Muslim world as being the greatest threat to Israel and the Jewish people today, extreme Muslim animosity is actually a relatively recent development. You know, Nathan, I can think of so many nations that are ostensibly Christian, such as our own. But obviously, throughout Europe, you think of France and Spain, Russia, Poland, and yet they’ve demonstrated great animosity toward the Jews living there.

Nathan Jones: And I think that’s why the Jews keep one wary eye on Gentile Christians because we have a long history of persecuting the Jewish people as a church.

Tim Moore: You know, people often think of Nazi Germany as being the high point of Jewish hatred and animosity. But even as the Nazis went into places like Poland and Russia, Ukraine, it was the local people who turned against their Jewish neighbors that had lived among them for years, demonstrating great animosity. And yet, even as we would perhaps cast a stone, we’re living in a glass house today because the very same thing is happening in America.

Nathan Jones: Churches were silent in Nazi Germany and they’re becoming silent in the United States.

Tim Moore: Where have we seen a rise in antisemitism today here?

Nathan Jones: On the college campuses, particularly, and our more liberal cities.

Tim Moore: You know, I just, I think that it could be argued that the number of Christians who want to bless the Jews seems to be few and far between, again, from a Jewish perspective.

Nathan Jones: It’s tragic, but the Bible prophesied it.

Tim Moore: So how do we make it very clear that we stand with Israel?

Nathan Jones: I think, bless a Jew. Go out and say, “Hey, we love you because Christ loves you. He’s got a future for you. He wants to save you and bring, you know, Yeshua as your Messiah, and we stand and support Him.”

Tim Moore: That’s why—one of the reasons why I have such great admiration for Dan and Meg Price, they actually put skin on their love for Jewish people. As I mentioned earlier, at an age when many folks would be settling down to enjoy grown children and grandchildren, they answered God’s call to go to a place He would show them. And like Abram of old, their wonderings eventually led them to the Promised Land, where they’re faithfully sharing the promise of salvation again to the Jews and the Druze.

Nathan Jones: And you can follow Dan and Meg’s ministry at FrontRowSeatMinistries.org, where you can also sign up for the regular three-in-three newsfeed about goings on from the front lines.

If these episodes of Christ in Prophecy, if they’ve made you eager to view our Annual Bible Prophecy Conference in its entirety, we hope you’ll visit our online store or call the number you see on the screen. And for only $25, we’ll be glad to send you a copy of the DVD or flash drive, with all the Conference presentations, along with two question and answer sessions, and other bonus material.

Tim Moore: We have one more episode in store for you. Next week, we’ll share a portion of Nathan’s message. Nathan, what timely question did you answer to wrap up our Prophecy Conference?

Nathan Jones: Why all Christians should support Israel?

Tim Moore: Well, I’ll tell you what, folks. There you go. I can’t think of a more timely and prophetically urgent way to wrap up our series of messages from our 2025 Annual Bible Prophecy Conference. It will explain why all of us who love Jesus should stand with Israel.

Ask the Lord this week to lead you to a Jew you can tell about our Jewish Messiah. Look for ways to demonstrate your love so that they will be receptive to hearing about the One who came for the Jews first, but also for the Gentiles, and offers salvation and life everlasting to both.

In the wonderful name of Yeshua HaMashiach, Godspeed!

End of Program