We're here to minister with, and to minister to Maadi Church, one of the largest and most influential churches in the Middle East. Most of their members are expatriate English speakers from the US and the UK and a huge number of Sub-Saharan Africans. They lost their Pastor a year ago in a tragic accident. We will be leading worship for their normal Thursday evening and Friday morning services -- that's right, Friday in the Islamic world. And in addition, we will be doing a big outdoor worship concert, something unusual in the Muslin world, especially during Ramadan. I get goosebumps when I think of worshiping the Lord in front of many hundreds, outdoors in Egypt!
This passage in Isaiah 19 is a key motivator for Maadi church, and to us as well. It's hard to say exactly how this will be fulfilled, but it does reveal God's heart of love and grace for the Middle East.
"In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."
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