God will make Jerusalem an immovable rock that all nations gather against but only hurt themselves
3 It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.
Paul warns Gentiles not to be arrogant about Israel, notes Jewish people are enemies of the gospel yet beloved on account of the patriarchs, and describes a partial hardening that will be removed
1 I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:
3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.”
4 But how does God answer him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
7 What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened.
8 According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”
9 David says, “Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Bow down their back always.”
11 I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?
13 For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;
14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.
15 For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead?
16 If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree;
18 don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”
20 True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear;
21 for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
22 See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
23 They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,
26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
27 This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.”
28 Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30 For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,
31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy.
32 For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.
33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?”
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.
the new covenant was prophesied to be made with the house of Israel
1 “At that time,” says Yahweh, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
2 Yahweh says, “The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
3 Yahweh appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.
4 I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.
5 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit.
6 For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry, ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.’”
7 For Yahweh says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company.
9 They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.
10 “Hear Yahweh’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
12 They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all.
13 Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says Yahweh.
15 Yahweh says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
16 Yahweh says: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work will be rewarded,” says Yahweh. “They will come again from the land of the enemy.
17 There is hope for your latter end,” says Yahweh. “Your children will come again to their own territory.
18 “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.
19 Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says Yahweh.
21 “Set up road signs. Make guideposts. Set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went. Turn again, virgin of Israel. Turn again to these your cities.
22 How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”
23 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: ‘Yahweh bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.’
24 Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
26 On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
27 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal.
28 It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant,” says Yahweh.
29 “In those days they will say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.
31 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says Yahweh.
33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says Yahweh: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
35 Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of Armies is his name, says:
36 “If these ordinances depart from before me,” says Yahweh, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.”
37 Yahweh says: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they…
Elisha's servant sees the surrounding army and panics, Elisha prays his eyes open to see the hillside filled with horses and chariots of fire
13 He said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” He was told, “Behold, he is in Dothan.”
14 Therefore he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night, and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God had risen early, and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. His servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
16 He answered, “Don’t be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 Elisha prayed, and said, “Yahweh, please open his eyes, that he may see.” Yahweh opened the young man’s eyes; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This service, led by Brian Hunter with guest worship leader Steve, was shaped entirely by the Hamas attack on Israel that had unfolded in the roughly thirty hours before the congregation gathered. Rather than preach his prepared message, Brian opened a dialogue with the room about what was happening, why it mattered to followers of Jesus, and how Tribe fam's two-plus years of studying Israel and the coming kingdom had prepared them for exactly this moment.
What was said
Brian gave the room a straightforward account of what had happened: a coordinated, multipronged attack by Hamas involving tens of thousands of rockets fired into civilian areas of southern Israel, terrorist cells moving through civilian towns, and attackers descending on a music festival by paraglider and parachute. He noted that tribe members Jacob and Gretchen had been in Israel and were by then safely in Turkey, and that Susan Han, whom Brian described as a member of the Hunter family, was safe in the Golan. Prime Minister Netanyahu had declared that Israel was at war, and Brian called it not the powder keg itself but the lighting of a fuse.
Steve framed why this should matter to the church at all. He pointed to the question the apostles asked Jesus just before the ascension, after forty days of teaching on the kingdom: will you now restore your kingdom to the nation of Israel? Steve argued that if a literal, physical, earthly kingdom centered on Israel is not part of a believer's understanding of the gospel, that believer has drifted far from the apostolic narrative. He walked through Romans 11 to show that God's hardening of Israel was purposeful, making room for Gentiles to be grafted in, and that the new covenant itself was first made with the house of Israel on Pentecost, when three thousand Jewish people came to faith before a single Gentile Christian existed.
Brian then addressed the Zechariah 12 passage the congregation read together, where Jerusalem is described as an intoxicating drink that causes the surrounding nations to stagger. He used COVID as a frame of reference: the way COVID divided, confused, and inflamed people across the world is a small picture of what Jerusalem will do on a far greater scale. His point was that without a biblical narrative already in place, believers will be swept into someone else's narrative, or into no coherent narrative at all, just as many were with COVID.
A few members of the congregation reflected on the twenty-one day fast the church had just concluded, noting that it had produced a real emotional and spiritual attentiveness to Israel that would not have been there otherwise. One member connected Art Katz's writing on the role of the Gentile church, arguing that the steadfastness of the church is itself part of what will eventually be undeniable to Jewish people. The conversation included a frank acknowledgment that standing with Israel is going to become increasingly unpopular, and that the fasting season was in part preparation for that cost.
Steve was careful to distinguish genuine biblical concern for Israel from what he called sentimental Israel worship. He said the issue is not that Israel is holier than anyone else, noting that a native Israeli Christian leader he traveled with used to say it is a holy land filled with unholy people. The real question to put to people, Steve suggested, is not which side you are on but why that particular piece of land has drawn the rage of the nations for thousands of years. The answer, he said, is the demonic opposition to a coming physical government that will establish God's rule on earth and permanently crush that opposition.
Brian closed by reading the story of Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6, where the servant sees only the surrounding army until Elisha prays that his eyes would be opened and he sees the hillside filled with horses and chariots of fire. Brian's application was direct: the servant's panic was not wrong given what he could see. What he lacked was a larger, true narrative. In the weeks and months ahead, a broadly accepted narrative about these events will form, and anyone without a biblical perspective will either be absorbed into that narrative or disqualified from the conversation entirely. Brian prayed for the voice of Elisha to rise up in this moment.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
Pray specifically for Jacob and Gretchen as they make their way home, and for Susan Han serving up north in the Golan.
Read Romans 11 this week and sit with what Paul says about Israel being both hostile to the gospel and beloved on account of the patriarchs.
When a friend or classmate brings up what is happening in Israel, try asking them this question instead of debating sides: why do you think there is so much tension over that particular piece of land?
Pick up a copy of The Final Mystery by Art Katz and start reading it alongside what you are watching unfold in the news.
Take a few minutes each day this week to ask the Lord to open your eyes the way Elisha asked for his servant, so that your understanding of these events is shaped by what God sees rather than only by what the news is telling you.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Steve said that getting right with God does not always feel good, and compared it to working through tension in a close relationship. When have you experienced that kind of uncomfortable realignment with God, and what did it produce in you?
Brian read from Zechariah 12 where Jerusalem is described as an intoxicating drink that makes the nations stagger. He used COVID as an illustration of how a single thing can cause the whole world to reel and divide. Where do you see that same kind of disorienting effect happening around Israel right now?
El domingo, Brian Hunter y Steve (quien dirigió la adoración junto con su esposa Shar, cubriendo a Lissa Hunter que estaba fuera de la ciudad) llevaron a la congregación en una conversación abierta sobre los ataques de Hamas contra Israel que habían comenzado apenas unas horas antes. Brian explicó que Hamas había lanzado miles de cohetes sobre poblaciones civiles en el sur de Israel, y que grupos armados habían entrado en comunidades, matado familias y secuestrado personas, incluyendo en un festival de música. Varios miembros de la familia Tribe estaban en Israel en ese momento, entre ellos Jacob y Gretchen, quienes ya habían logrado salir a Turquía, y Susan Han, quien se encontraba segura en el norte del país.
Steve y Brian conectaron estos eventos con un camino que la congregación había estado recorriendo durante los últimos años, incluyendo veintiún días de ayuno y oración enfocados en el corazón de Dios hacia Israel, que habían concluido apenas días antes de los ataques. Explicaron que el conflicto sobre Israel no es simplemente político sino espiritual: según los profetas y los apóstoles, Dios tiene un propósito físico y eterno con Jerusalén y con el pueblo judío, y Satanás hace guerra contra ese propósito. Steve aclaró que esto no significa ignorar el sufrimiento del pueblo palestino ni idolizar al Estado de Israel, sino entender desde las Escrituras por qué esa tierra es el centro de tanta tensión en el mundo.
Brian cerró con la historia de Eliseo y su siervo para animar a la congregación a buscar una perspectiva bíblica en lugar de dejarse llevar por la narrativa de los medios. Dijo que en las semanas y meses que vienen habrá presión para tomar partido, y que sin un fundamento en la Palabra y en el Espíritu, es fácil perder el rumbo, así como ocurrió con el COVID. Invitó a todos, especialmente a los jóvenes, a prepararse para ser voces de claridad y fe en sus escuelas, universidades y comunidades.
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Pasajes bíblicos mencionados:
Hebreos 12:18 (mencionado al inicio por Steve durante la adoración)
Zacarías 12:2-3
Romanos 11 (citado por Steve, varios versículos)
Jeremías (referencia a la profecía del nuevo pacto con la casa de Israel, sin versículo exacto mencionado)
2 Reyes 6:13-17
Read the full transcript9,821 words
Liz is out of town. This weekend, she's visiting her father in Minnesota, we're filling in for her. My wife and I, it's Shirley. And just as we worship, just going into it, you know, Hebrews twelve eighteen, he says, you have not come to an mountain of doom and gloom. You have not come to this heavy place.
It says, but you have come to a heavenly mountain, a new Jerusalem, a city in heaven where there's angels ascending, descending. There's joy, there's power, there's dominion. So And as we worship this morning, you know,
some of us may be mindful because we've been seeing in
the news regarding Israel, as a church, we've been pressing in pressing into praying for Israel, understanding Israel's role. We're gonna maybe talk about that later
in the day. One thing I just wanna say that as
we worship this morning, as we get to the presence of God, you know, we worship God, we praise God, and when we get an atmosphere of faith and we get an atmosphere of of joy, we get an atmosphere of hope, that's the best atmosphere to pray out of. Right? We wanna pray from heaven's atmosphere down. And when we're in that place of feeling the hope, the power, the dominion of Christ, I just wanna encourage us. It's in that place of hope and power that we actually do our best praying.
And we're I just wanna encourage us
if you feel that just lift up the people of Israel, lift up
the body in Israel, and and maybe we'll talk about that stuff later. But we wanna go ahead and get going. Lord, we thank you for this morning. Father, we thank you for the promises you've made. You said, now the Lord is the the now the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And Lord, you said that you that you inhabit. You you make tabernacle in the midst of the praises of your people. So Lord, as we pray to you this morning, according to your word, you're gonna be here in the midst of us. And according to your word, that wherever you are, there's freedom. And so we thank you for that this morning in Jesus' name.
Just sing that over Israel.
Strong. Let's sing strong are you Lord?
Strong are you Lord? Strong. And when darkness rises all around us. We will see his glory breaking through the night. The king in all his wonder fills us with his power Christ in us the answer hope for all the world when darkness when darkness all things.
We can do all things. We can do all things. Our God strong in Strong in in Just one more thing. I want us to sing this together. Sing this.
Your spirit within me, abundant riches of
glory within me, strengthening me from the inside up,
your from the inside up. Your spirit within me,
In the crushing, in the pressing, you are making new eye. And in the soil, you lie. And I surrender. But you are breaking new ground.
And the crushing.
And in the crushing and in the pressing, you are making new wine. And in the soil, you'll lie. And now surrender. But you are breaking
of my old fire. Yeah. I let go of that old fire. I need the new. Yeah.
I want the new fight.
Yes. Sometimes we gotta let go of what we thought, what used to inspire us. We gotta let go of our images of God that carried us through in a season. And sometimes we're trying to make things happen based on old fire. And the Lord's going, hey.
I'm I wanna put new fire in you. I wanna put a new message in you. I wanna put new hope in you. I wanna put new vision for your life in you. It's stale.
We don't have that same zeal and passion for the Lord, and we're still doing the same things. And the Lord's going, no. No. No. No.
You've gotta let go of some old fire. You've gotta let go of some old paradigms of what you thought your life was gonna be. And you gotta allow me to fill you with fresh wind, to fill you with fresh fire, fresh vision. Lord says there's things in my heart I wanna put in your heart that will ignite you. There's things that I see that you don't see yet that I wanna show you, that will
fill you with zeal and passion.
So it's just as a corporate body, let's just say, Lord, I let go of what you want me to let go of.
Lord, I receive what you want me to receive from you. Hallelujah.
We can go ahead and have
a seat. I just wanna share
one quick testimony, if that's cool, Brian, before we roll?
Okay. If you want to.
So what by testimony, mean song, which is a testimony. But, yeah, I just am feeling this, and we are feeling this this morning. Even the things we're gonna share maybe was today. But sometimes there's new paradigms the Lord wants to put in our lives, and some things may seem foreign. But, you know, I feel the lord wants us to come into an alignment with his heart.
He wants us to get right with him and that doesn't mean necessarily we're wrong or in sin. He just wants us to get right with what's in his heart to get into alignment. You know, unbelievers aren't the only ones that need to get right with the lord. How many of you, as believers, I I gotta get right almost every day. It's like a relationship with you gotta get right.
We gotta get on the same I mean, when I know she's upset and she's just kinda shutting me out, I what does she say? We're just not on the same page. And I feel like the Lord's saying, I want you guys to get on the same page with me of of what I'm doing, of what I see. And, you know, it doesn't always feel good getting right. You know that?
Like, how many of have had to have those sit downs with a spouse or a friend or you can feel there's tension and you don't wanna have the converse it doesn't always feel good getting right. So that's what this song is about.
I buried my idols in the sand. It broke my heart when I broke the land. Yeah. I got low. Yeah.
I've been low. I wave my banner in the sky, a tattered rag of surrender white. Yeah. I got low. Yeah.
I've been low. But these empty hands turned to fertile lands that would yield their fruit in time. But it don't always feel good getting right. I turned my back on all I'd known. I set out on this road alone.
Yeah. I got low. Yeah. I've been low. I gave you time to speak your peace.
You cut me down. I was a fallen tree. Yeah. I got low. Man, you cut me low.
But these broken bones turned to kindling stones. That would spark new fire in time. But it don't always feel good. I'm getting right. I shared the pain of your loving heart.
I must confess this was the hardest part. Yeah. I got low. Yeah. I've been low.
Betrayed by those that I held close, forgiving friends that had become my foes. Yeah. I got alone. Yeah. I've been alone.
But these blessed wounds turned to open tombs that would show their life in time. But it don't always feel good. No. It don't always feel good. But know it don't always feel good.
Getting right.
So father, I pray each of us on our journey, bury those idols in the sand. It broke my heart when I broke the land. Come on. Jesus, we ask as a community that you would bring us into agreement with your heart, with your spirit regarding Israel, regarding the move of your spirit in this valley, in this region, and in the earth. Lord, you're so powerful.
Lord, you're so merciful. You have so much wisdom. Lord, we want to be streamlined with your heart in Jesus' name.
No coffee for you today. Or if you do, just, like, slip up and get it. Let's split the difference. If we need to do a quick audio check, we can. Good morning.
So we'll get we'll get we'll get right to it. How many of y'all have seen the news and events that have unfolded in the last twenty four hours? Yeah? Okay. So this morning, I thought we would have a little conversation about what's going on, how it impacts us, our response.
As Steve mentioned before, he is he's here leading worship with his wife, Shar. Lissa is in Minnesota. She's gonna go watch the Vikings lose to I mean, put up a hard fight today. But if you don't if you don't know Steve's honorary member of our tribe family, he preaches here. He leads worship here.
We, Lissa, and I have done life with their family. Two different stints. One before he started his family and then since they've been back here in Jackson and he probably of maybe maybe I would say within the top five people of all of Teton County has visited Israel the most. He served on staff at a ministry that traveled to Israel, led tours to Israel, and so as much as I miss Lissa, I think that it is timely that he's here with us today. And I would like to so I had a message planned.
It's here. I did my homework. I can turn it in later, but I thought maybe the Lord might have a a different direction for us in light of events that are currently unfolding in Israel and the ripple effects that we could see around the world and so what I'd like to do is have a conversation about Israel today, what's going on, how it applies to us, and and see what the lord would do and my I'll start by turning the mic over to you to hear your thoughts and impressions on on these events. And if you are new to Tribe, here's how here's how this is the vibe of Tribe. I want this less to be a a a monologue, and I want it more to be a dialogue.
This room, even when it's full, is still a good size that, like, I can see you back there, and and you can talk to me as I talk to you. And I want us to be able to make connections, ask questions, have comments. And so the way that we do that is Kat has a mic, and we use the mic for two reasons. Number one, so that we can hear your voice whenever you have a comment or a question in the room here. But then additionally, all of our livestream families that tune in each week will be able to they will be able to hear and participate in the conversation as well.
And I've invited Steve up here. He and I are gonna kind of tag team this morning and see what sort of beautiful tapestry the Lord would weave together. So with that in mind, I first wanna turn it over to you and say, what have you seen? What are your thoughts about what's unfolding in Israel and specifically related to us here at Tribe? So, that's the prompt.
I'd love to hear from you.
So first of all, Gretchen and Jacob are in Israel, and they're trying to get out now. And I think they're as of yesterday, everything they were good and had a plan, and so pray for them, please.
Let me let me give a point of clarification. Jacob and Gretchen are members of our tribe fan, and they've been planning for a long time to go to Israel. They saw lots of great sights and things. And then these events unfolded, and we're on a group thread with them, and they have gotten out of Tel Aviv, and they are in Turkey right now. Connor's working on it.
Bear with him. And Corey could also help perhaps. Sometimes there's that mystery ring. Corey has a magical touch. So thank you for bringing that up.
We got tribe fam, and we also have Susan, and we call her our Susan. How many of you know who Susan Han is? Yeah. So, Susan Hahn is a member of our tribe fam and really a member of the Hunter family. She kind of adopted us as her parents and she lives and works in Israel.
And she's up north in the Golan, and she is safe for now as well. So thank you for bringing that up. What else?
For the people who have not been here for all of this, is there any scriptures that you guys have to why we should be having this conversation right now about Israel or caring for Israel?
Alright. Reask that question because I'm not quite following you, but I think I am.
Where in the bible does it say that we should be caring for Israel?
Ah. Alright. What comes to your mind? And I will accept fragments of verses. But I will call you out if I'm like, I don't recognize it.
I'll allow it. Out of the mouths of babes, have ordained praise. And why do you ask that question, Lanisha?
Just in general because there's could be people here today who don't know in what area in scripture should we be carried about for Israel because some people could be raised with a background of we are Christ chosen versus Israel ordained and why should I be caring about people who didn't accept Jesus as their savior, etcetera, etcetera. And a lot of people's hearts just might not be open or understand the importance that Israel is.
Okay.
Just something real there's there's a lot in there, but just something real quick that I like to frame. You know, after Jesus rose from the dead, new body, right? It says that how many of you know what happened after he got the new body? He was for forty days and forty nights with the apostles, right? And it says he was teaching them of what?
The kingdom. So imagine forty days and forty nights, I always call it the Jesus with the resurrected body conference, the best conference you could ever go to. Here's the Messiah, brand new body, and for forty days and forty nights, he's teaching you and instructing you about the kingdom of heaven. Right? That's pretty remarkable.
Now fast forward, after that forty days and forty nights, he's about to ascend into heaven. Okay? We know in the as he was ascending into heaven, there was one question that the young apostle at least that's recorded, a driving question that one of the apostles had. Remember, after a forty day conference with Jesus about the kingdom, there's one question the apostle has. Who knows what that question was?
Jesus,
is this the time that you're gonna restore your kingdom, your physical rule and reign to the nation of Israel? So I would argue that if that concept of kingdom on physical Israel isn't a major part of our understanding of Christianity, we have drifted far, far, far from the apostolic narrative of how they understood kingdom. And so the conflict that's happening in the atmosphere over the nation of Israel, It's the demonic rage of Satan at war against the establishment of a physical government that will put him that will crush him forever and restore the earth back to its original intention.
With that in mind, for coming out of COVID, the lord said, hey, I wanna I wanna talk to you about something that is near and dear to my heart and this was three plus years ago, he began to whisper to Lissa and I about his soon coming physically established kingdom on earth. Now, yes, the kingdom of god is violently forth and it's going from heart to heart to heart to heart, but there is an additional fulfillment of that literally on planet Earth in the days ahead. So, it it's both and. It's yes and and the lord's like, you get it. You you Gentile Christians, you get the idea of the kingdom of god advancing from heart to heart to heart to heart.
Yep, you get it but I want to expand and bring some clarity to my plan that's been in here all along. And so he began to take Lissa and I on a journey of and I'll I'll use a a primitive, doesn't do it justice term, but it'll be something that you can all, like, connect with. The idea of the return of Jesus or end times. So he begins to take Lisa and I on this journey. The first thing we want to do is drag our close friends along on the journey, the the Abbads, the Lacks, the Vedders, other other families.
Like like, if we're going down this, like like, trail, like, through Mirkwood Forest, like, let's all go together. And and so we have been in what I would describe as a more beautiful term, the Maranatha paradigm for a number of years now and Maranatha is an Aramaic word and it's one word that has two meanings. The lord has come and he will come again and so, we have been marinating in the Maranatha message for some time. After a period of time, we began to expose our tribe family, y'all, to the same message. And as of recently, to tie in what you said and to tie in what what you said, as of recently, if you're if you're just visiting or if you're brand new to tribe, about less than thirty days ago, the lord put it on our heart to go on a twenty one day journey of either denying yourself or fasting to make room in our hearts for god to speak to us about his heart for Israel.
We have literally just come off of that journey or I should say, hopefully, you're still on that journey but we have concluded the twenty one days And literally, less than a week later, these events begin to unfold. And so when Lanisha says, well, why should why should we care about Israel? What's interesting is we've just been devoting twenty one days to inviting the lord to speak to us about why care for Israel and I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to this passage. It's in Zechariah twelve two. It's a very interesting passage.
When I read it, you'll be like, oh yeah, yeah, that one. That's a, oh, yeah, that one. And then we can maybe riff off of that one. Zechariah twelve two will give you the mic and would you please read that somebody please read that passage aloud. Chris b Bacon has got it.
I will make Jerusalem like an entire Now,
that down. Don't re like, come on. Just like like, come on. Don't rush
I was getting through to the good part.
This is this is antelope tenderloin. Okay? Every morsel Get your to be
fort's ready. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. How far am I going?
Do a quick scan of verse three, but I think two is good.
On that day, I will make Jerusalem like an immoveable an immove I'll just start over. On that day, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.
Okay. Alright. Students, I would love to hear from you today. Any thoughts or questions, comments that you have. And no question that you could think of asking is gonna be like, this is not like, the grown ups are talking.
K? This is this is this is maybe the whole thing's today is is for y'all. Alright? So do not think by any means that you get, like, a hall pass from, like, well, I don't understand, and so I'm out. Alright?
Okay? Okay. So there's a lot of reasons on the backstory of why, but we're going to we're going to start with this verse, that god has chosen Israel and specifically Jerusalem. And he's like, he's thinking of how he can describe Jerusalem and its role in world events to people that might have some type of understanding. So, god is thinking and he says, oh, oh, oh, it's Jerusalem is like an intoxicating drink.
I will lure the nations to her. I will cause the nations to drink, and they will stagger around and reel. So let me unpack that, and then I'd love to to to hear from you. Up until COVID, it would have been hard to conceptualize that verse. However, let me give you something that we are all familiar with.
In a way, COVID was an intoxicating drink that made the nations of the world stagger and real and even get into fistfights. Does that make sense? Because there was so much conflicting information and so many emotions. You you might have even lost somebody close to you and you have strong, powerful emotions And then somebody right next to you might have even denied that COVID even existed. COVID nod your head if you are picking up what I'm putting down.
COVID was like an intoxicating drink that the world drank from. Right? Everybody's like, how do I even stand up and how do I navigate this? In the same way that COVID was an intoxicating drink for the nations. God's like, oh, like a little spritzy wine cooler.
Like, you haven't even had the hard stuff yet. Israel, I will make as an intoxicating drink and Lanisha said, why lean into this? Why study this? Because if we do not approach Israel with sobriety and a biblical narrative, we will reel and stagger and trip all over ourselves and end up making ourselves look like an idiot much like somebody does when they've had too much loud mouth soup.
Loud mouth soup? Yeah. Yeah. Is that another name for like a like a
Cold snack.
Oh, cold snack.
Too much cold snacks.
Never heard that before. That's cool. Yeah, just something to add to that. Romans 11, Lanisha, is a really awesome text to just read through at any believer. There's some really key principles in there.
A couple just a couple of things that stand out as it relates to Jerusalem and Israel. Paul kind of starts it off with saying this thing. He says, They are enemies of the gospel. So Paul is not shying away from saying that even in the ancient time that the Jewish people were actually hostile towards the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul's emphasizing that.
He's saying, hey, look, they're hostile towards the gospel. He makes the statement though, but they're beloved in the sight of God on account of the patriarchs. Meaning, because of God's tenderness with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and David, because of the relationship and the covenants and the promises he made with those men, he now views even obstinate stubborn Israel with a special place of benevolence because he had a special relationship and made promises to those men. To God, was like yesterday. Like, I'm not backing off what I told Abraham.
I'm not backing off when I told David that there will be a descendant of yours on that throne in Jerusalem forever. He's gonna keep that promise. And then as Paul goes on, and this is something I just want us to grasp, it's really important for the young ones, in this concept of because people may say, well, the Jews were stubborn. They were expecting a physical Messiah and he came as a spiritual Messiah. So they got offended and didn't believe in him.
That's kind of the narrative all of us have heard. But do you know why they expected a physical Messiah? Cause that's what they've been prophesied for thousands of years, a physical Messiah that will rule and reign on the earth and there still is gonna be Jesus in his body on the earth. So they weren't expecting that because they were stubborn and stupid. They were expecting that because those are the prophecies that had been given to them.
The second part is it'll it'll it says, well, you know, they were stubborn, hard hearted. Paul says that God, God hardened their hearts. He blinded them. He put a spirit God put a spirit of stupor on the Jewish people so that they would not perceive Messiah so that you and I could even come in. If they would have perceived Messiah and said, you're him.
Let's roll. Guess what? He's ruling and reigning. There's no cross. There's no version of you coming into the kingdom.
And Paul says, you mean to say they were struck blind so that I could even have a shot? Paul's going, yeah. It's so and we can get so arrogant, which Paul also warns in Roman 11. I do not want you to become arrogant, brethren, and think that this originated with you, Gentile.
Mhmm.
This whole church culture didn't start as this church culture. And he goes on to say that that hardening there's a hardening in part, and then that hardening will be removed, and they will be brought back in. And just the last thing is people, lot of times, these are just the, I think, demonic narratives that have been sewed into church culture. You know, one more thing just to say, do you know in Jeremiah when it's prophesied of a new covenant, who can who the new covenant was made with? Who did Jeremiah prophesy that the new covenant would be made with?
The house of Israel. He says, once again, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. So you do you know even the new covenant had to be made with the Jewish apostles on the day of Pentecost? How many know on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 came to the Lord? They a lot of people consider that the the establishment of the new covenant, but did you a lot people will think, well, came from around the nations.
They spoke different languages. No. They were all Jews.
Mhmm.
They were coming for the feast. They spoke different languages because they had been dispersed in the nations. 3,000 Jews come to the faith because people say the Jews rejected them. Then the gospel came to the Gentiles. There was an estimate 20,000 Jewish believers in Israel before there was one Gentile Christian.
So I
just want us to know, hey, if it weren't for that root of of Jewish believers that received Messiah that he could make that new covenant with, we, you and I, if we're not Jewish, we would have had nothing to have been grafted into. No covenant, no promise as Paul says, without hope in the world, strangers, foreigners to the commonwealth of Israel. And so it's very deeply ingrained in the apostolic understanding of the gospel. Just one one quick thing and we can segue into this. It's just I know we're short on time.
Just wanna emphasize one thing. How do we respond when these things are what is the heart condition? What is the paradigm? Because I can tell you, brothers, these things are gonna be increasingly happening in the earth, particularly as it pertains to Israel. But there is a great sifting that will come upon the whole earth that Jesus said even the elect could be deceived if those days weren't cut short.
There is collision. There is these things are gonna be happening. So what is our heart posture? How do we navigate through it? And I can tell you the way we navigate through it isn't to get nihilistic and to go and to just fill ourselves with the knowledge of it and just kinda go, well, woe is me.
I might as well just go buy a piece of land and store food and wait for it all to go to hell. Listen. Like we sang this morning, when darkness surrounds us, the glory of the lord is gonna come upon us. This will be the greatest hour of harvest, the greatest hour of church history. I believe the greatest hour for the church, spot making herself ready without spot, without wrinkle, moving in the compassion of Jesus, moving in the power of god, and it is in these seasons and these times that will begin to be our finest hour as the victorious church, as we're vibrant, as we sang this morning, God is strong in us.
We can do all things. You know, there's a better time where that's like, God help me with my baseball game. Help me with my job tomorrow. And we need that. But there's coming a time when there's a sifting in the nations, and there's fear and trembling everywhere.
No one has any perspective. And as the body, we've been cultivating this hope and this glory and this power and this presence of Jesus and we see throughout history, it's in these times of turmoil often where the gospel goes forth with power. The fastest growing church in the world is in Iran, but Iran economically, politically, socially, religiously is in total turmoil. So people would say, man, God, break in there with the gospel. And God would say, no, I am.
That's why it's going crazy. I'm dismantling powers of the air. And sometimes it is, but sometimes the result is turmoil and shaking. It's violent. The violent take hold of it by force.
And so I just I just wanna say this one poem about this real quick.
Here we go.
The cross of Jesus Christ is more than just a cute religious tutorial. It's an eternal war memorial. And on the side of it, I see the words freedom don't come free that is except for you and me because you and I don't have to die ever. And I'm not gonna pretend like it all makes sense and the logic is nice and tight, but since when do things have to make sense in order for things to be right? We hold these truths to be self evident straight from the pen of our nation's third president.
And once again, I think it's relevant to express such a sentiment. Divine revelation is such a fundamental element, That is to say, it's elementary. A basic method of escaping from an ancient penitentiary. An emancipation proclamation for any nation still in slavery, so maybe it's time to get free because I can feel something rising up in me. And the same is true of the few in the KOG, and that's the kingdom of God, in case you didn't catch the acronym.
A kingdom full of power we are presently inheriting. A kingdom with the king that will devour all that hinders him. That's right. I said it. Judgment will come.
Truth will be established. Much blood will run. Economies collapse under the weight of
the
sun. Hurricanes, tidal waves, destruction, nation against nation with the tanking gun, but still was steady shouting thy kingdom come. And still was steady asking thy will be done. Because through the pain and misery, we see God's love shining like a diamond in the middle of the mud and singing like a child not yet conscious of despair and speaking in a whisper to deliver us from fear. And if you listen closely, you can hear it as it travels through the air.
Keep that. So
good.
Not sure how anybody could follow that with
I'm so glad you are. Comment. Not me.
I think it's imperative to sorry to digress. I think it's imperative just to express and maybe sum up what's actually happening currently for people that haven't seen it on whatever news source that they you know, because, I mean, I've seen, like, a minute of it, like, on Facebook because I watch news things or whatever on Facebook. But, like, Matt doesn't have Facebook, and usually I tell him what's going on in the world. So there might be people in the room that have absolutely no idea what's happening, and I think we should discuss that first and foremost.
Thank you, Renee. So so I was I was at a cell reception, so I don't I don't have, like, the specific timeline of things. But from my sources, some are third hand, some are first hand. I was on the phone late last night and and all of this morning with various people on the ground in Israel. But there was there was a a widespread multipronged coordinated attack on the nation of Israel that has been attributed to the terrorist organization of Hamas.
And Hamas has launched, by this point, tens of thousands of rockets from Palestinian area known as Gaza Strip into various civilian populations and civilian towns in what we would consider Southern Israel where there have been hundreds and hundreds of civilian casualties, and the the multipronged part is there have also been terrorist cells that have gone in and among the Israeli civilian population, executed people, shot people, guess that's one and the same, and kidnapped people, women, young people, children, executing families, and a a a a bizarre addition of terrorists dropping out of the sky in either paragliders or or or parachutes into music festivals and and killing civilians. So now if you look historically and, again, I'm I'm not a historical expert on incursions into Israel. But this is unprecedented level in fifty years because, you know, sometimes there are, like, bus bombings. Sometimes there are knife attacks. Sometimes rockets get fired.
But Israel has a missile defense system called the Iron Dome. And through sophisticated technology, they are able to shoot it shoot down incoming rockets. But even then, you've got debris that's raining down on a civilian population, and it's this has been unprecedented in the in the history of Israel since since, like, you know, the the the old footed black and white footage that we see in, like, the the fifties and sixties of major conflict in Israel. So that has all been unfolding in Israel in the last, what are we now, maybe thirty hours into this. This is this is not just a a seasonal, like, flare up or or or something small.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said, we are at war. So that's so so to bring you up to speed if you didn't know that. Here's the next question I have for you. In light of the journey that we've been on as a tribe fam for the last several years, and specifically, those of you who have been on the whole twenty one day journey with us or even just part of it, you jumped in late, that's fine. In light of where we have been going as a tribe family, how do you fit what's happening with Israel in light of the journey that you've been going on?
Does my question make sense? If the question makes sense, then you're qualified to answer. If you need to if you wanna answer but you need clarification, just say, ask me again, PB. And then, Joy, I want to hear from you.
Brian, you gave a couple of run up to the twenty one days together sermons that that talked about the increasing cost as a Christian to stay aligned with the gospel and with what god has called us positionally as the church to support and stand with Israel. And I think that this is gonna be one of the instigating events that starts to sift the body of Christ in either standing with Israel or by, lack of decision standing with Palestine and terrorists coming against Israel. And there was a I had denied myself watching any social media, mainly YouTube outside of FAI or any Israeli, you know, education worship. And I didn't find out until the end, day 20 of the twenty one days that Dalton Thomas with FAI had a really good video about the increasing geopolitical centrality of The Middle East and and Israel's place in the kingdom that that god's bringing back and how enlightening it was with the long standing historical place that the Middle East has been, not even since just 1948, but for, what, thousands of years. And that was really neat to to for god to reveal that that increasing geopolitical events now unfolding are pointing to what, you know, Dalton and so many people have pointed out and highlighted as as God continues to shine his light and and his heart on Jerusalem and his people.
It's good. I'd like to, ask the same question here, from a few more of you. In light of where we've been last couple years and last twenty one days, how has how has the events unfolding in Israel how do you how do you connect those dots? And then students up front, and some of you I know, some of you I've known since you were babies. Others of you, you're some new faces to me.
But it doesn't matter if I've known you since you were a baby or, like, this is the very first time you're sitting in tribe. I'd love to hear from you. And so if you have a thought or a a a question, get it queued up in your mind because I'm gonna come back and ask you again in a minute. Oh, thank you very much, sir.
Okay. So in light of the twenty one days
Cup of stupor.
In light of the twenty one days, I have just found just kind of an overarching, like, more emotional connection, maybe. Like, when I heard about Israel being in war, I don't think that that would have resonated much with me before the twenty one days, and I found myself stirred up more than before. And so I feel like that's a testimony to making room in your heart for Israel. I've also, through the twenty one days and since then, I've been reading the final mystery is that what it's called? By Art Katz.
I'm I'm just starting to understand a little bit, but he talks a lot about how
Would you say that book title and author again?
The Final Mystery by Art Katz.
Art Katz. Yes.
And he talks about how the role of the church, the Gentile church, and being so you guys can correct me on this if I haven't gotten it completely, but being so steadfast and committed to our salvation and to understanding God that our testimony is what will be undeniable to the Jews to bring them back to a relationship. There's a key part that we as a church are to play in this. And piggybacking off of the tree part that Steve was talking about, like, there's we don't even have salvation if it weren't for the Jews and for the family that are that God made a covenant with to start with. And he's invited us in, and there is a overwhelming message of endurance. And as you guys have hit on it a little bit, but as we hear about a war or we hear about different conflicts that are coming up, there's coming a time when our conversations here in Jackson Hole at school or with our friends or whatever, people are going to, like COVID, start kind of like asking questions or saying things that like, which side are you on?
And it's not going to be popular to say that we stand with Israel. And so there is a necessity for us to build up that endurance strength and to know that we know that we know that we know because it's going to be so unpopular that it's going to take a lot of courage and faith. And to queue up the students, some of them were just at a bar mitzvah yesterday. And the events were being, like, murmured about and mentioned throughout. And so there's some connections that I think even just mentioning like what happened and how that came up kind of could get conversation going too.
That's good. Let me respond to something you
said real quick and then we'll move over.
And this is something I want to make sure to get across that's really clear is there's there is even in the Christian world, there I think there is an ungodly Israel worship obsession with Israel that's been in the church for a long time.
Emotional sentiment.
It's sentimentality. It's like salivating. Israel can do no wrong. Israel's it's like I've I've been I always say, you don't Christians don't love Israelis till you hate them first. Because I've taken so many Christians there, and they get on the plane.
They can't wait to see the guys in the curls, and
it's gonna be so I've been dreaming about this, and it's gonna be so beautiful. And they get on
the plane and the Orthodox Jews are mean and smell because they don't wear deodorant and they're rude to you and the crushing of the face of like,
I thought they were gonna hug me and go my brother from another month, you know.
And and so it's we're not deifying Israel, we're not sanctifying everything they do as a nation. Like Avi, who I traveled with for a long time, he was a native Israeli that got born again, one of the only leaders in the land, Christian leaders, was actually born in Israel. And people would say, Oh, Israel, Israel, it's so beautiful. And he would say, what he would say, he would say, Yes, it's a holy land filled with unholy people.
And a lot of tour buses.
Yeah. Like he was trying to communicate, We're not more holy than you. And so as we talk about the the this is what I wanna emphasize. I love the Palestinian people. I love them.
They suffer too. And so when when this conversation comes up, it's not, oh, I can't wait for them to wipe them out and Israel's the because people wanna make it Israel Palestine. I just wanna encourage us as Christians. Here's an awesome way to shift that narrative. Say, why do you think that piece of land has so much tension around it?
Why do you think that? Because the real issue is I'm a bible guy, not necessarily an Israel guy. I'm a Jesus guy who happens to be Israeli. And so the issue is the powers of the air that are raging over that territory because of what God sees in its future and has and has said will be in its future. And so there's blood on both sides.
Mhmm.
And I want us to be clear about that. It's not like someone says, I'm pro Palestine. Oh, you stupid idiot. If, you know no. No.
No. I love just saying, why do you think there's so much tension there? Why do you think that this religion Islam and this religion why do you think it's all culminating in this place? And that's a good way to start the dialogue when we have those conversations.
Thank you. So good. Students, thoughts, questions, comments? You will be leading this conversation sooner than you realize In your classrooms, on your teams, college essays, on your college campuses. And I understand if it's all new, and I understand you're like, who are all these people?
I get it.
A lot of pressure.
It's a lot of pressure.
Precious, short for pressure.
Oh. No cap? No. Well,
let's just lift them up anyways if they don't. Father, we just pray for these younger ones. So we pray we know that this conflict's gonna increase in the nations. And, Lord, we need messengers and vessels that have been filled with the knowledge of God and filled with the the spirit, the anointment of the spirit. We pray for them and all those that inspire them.
We pray for the Jewish community in Jackson that are going through these, seeing these trials and the grieving, the heartbreak that's there, Lord. We ask you to infuse grace in these ones. Jesus. We pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Jesus Christ that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened. They would know what is the hope of your calling, the glorious riches of your inheritance in the saints and the surpassing greatness of your power towards those who believe.
But at least that spirit of wisdom and revelation on this age group, we pray. In Jesus' name.
Let's start to land the plane with still don't worry. I'm getting new glasses, but I gotta put on, like, Lissa's readers. Let's turn to second Kings chapter six, and I wanna share a story with you that might be new for some of you perhaps is familiar to others. Second Kings chapter six Oh, okay. We'll start reading in verse 15.
So I give you a second to turn there. All right. So I'll go back to the I'll go back to 13. So the king says, go and find out where he is. The king commanded so I can send troops to seize him.
He's after Elisha. And the report came back, Elisha is at Dothan. So one night, the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. When the servant of the man of god got up early the next morning and went outside, There were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. Oh, sir, what do we do now?
The young man cried out to Elisha. This is Elisha's servant. Yeah. Picture Elisha like in his bathrobe standing up on the ramparts just sipping his coffee. Verse 16, don't be afraid, Elisha told him, for there are more on our side than on theirs.
Then Elisha prayed, oh lord, open his eyes and let him see. Then the lord opened the young man's eyes and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. So here's the idea, and I'll invite Shar to come up. Here's the idea, is that in the days and weeks and months ahead, there is going to be a broadly accepted narrative that rolls out about the events that are unfolding. And if you do not have a biblical narrative and a Holy Spirit fresh fire narrative and understanding of these events, you will by default even if you say, I don't wanna have a narrative.
Like, I I'm out. I don't wanna be in this conversation. How well did that work for you with COVID? That's it. I'm out.
How well did that work for you? You were still impacted, and you still had thoughts about it even if your thoughts were, I don't know. I'm just confused. You were you were swept away, and you were dis qualified from engaging in the conversation. Even if your narrative was wrong, by saying, I don't I don't have a narrative.
I don't wanna have a narrative. You were disqualified from engaging and leading in the conversation. In a similar way, in the coming days, weeks, and months, there will be a narrative that comes comes out regarding the events that are unfolding. My personal thought is that this is not the powder keg, but a fuse has been lit that will result in a powder keg. This is just the fuse.
And similar to the story that we just read, if you don't have a biblical perspective or narrative or understanding about these things, you will be like Elisha's servant that is blind to their reality and you will buy a narrative either or you will develop your own narrative that is not inspired. We are in times of desperate need for the voice of Elisha who has confidence to say, sipping his coffee, looking out there being like, yeah. There's there's more of us on on our side than there is against him. How can you say that? And then he goes to list.
There's soldiers, there are horses. There's chariot. Look at all of these facts. I mean, yeah, that that that might be true. But here is a greater, a a narrative that supersedes what you're perceiving in your own eyes.
Lord, may the voice of Elisha rise up in this age and in this time, in this Kairos moment. May the voice of Elisha rise up that calls and provokes Elisha's servants to open their eyes and to see what you are up to in these things. And we and may we align ourselves, God, with your narrative and with your perspective. Now with that in mind, you take just a few moments, and we want students look at me. We wanna I talk about this all the time.
We want to invite the Lord to help us make that 18 inch drop from our thinker to our knower. If today's conversation only stays in our thinker, it really profits us nothing other than to puff us up intellectually, not to lead you straight into a ditch. Ditch. But when you have an encounter and a revelation, maybe by something that was said here today or sparked by the conversation or what the holy spirit would speak to you right now in the tenderness of this moment, whoo, that gets you. Makes that 18 inch drop.
Caleb, is this your nephew or cousin? Alright. Yeah. Should we maybe do that, like, right after service? Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Caleb. Thanks for being here visiting. So holy spirit, spirit of the living God, would you just help us to make that 18 inch drop from our thinker to our knower?
We want your perspective. We want your narrative. Help us. Jesus, help us. Now you take just a moment and you just talk to him from your heart.
Okay?
To
of us. Jesus, we ask that
you would anoint us even even if we don't have the right words, Lord. We ask for your heart. We ask for you to anoint our heart that our emotions would align with you. Sometimes the kingdom of god is not words. It's in power.
Not sometimes, but
emotions
that we would feel as you feel, Jesus. We would see as you see, Jesus. That even in tears, tears are intercession. So we receive your heart today.
Jesus. Align us with you,
Plant your seeds in us, Lord, even if they're different than than we thought that they would be.
Is it break it is it break sets us free from being obsessed with ourself. It frees us up from the prison of self preservation and self obsession. Most people's depression and sadness is because their life hasn't worked out the way that it would, the way that they were told it would by well meaning Christian leaders. And what this part of what this message does, it's like a wrench in the gears and it breaks us free from our obsession with ourselves. And it actually causes us to get into the flow of God where there is new wine, there is new fire, there is new life.
And so I just wanna pray that prayer. You know, what's gonna cause the church to come into a powerful victorious state is we get liberated from trying to create our own lives. And Jesus said that in the very beginning, if you'll lose your life for my gospel, the gospel of the kingdom, and here's what I want to say, the gospel of the church isn't enough. The gospel of our family is sometimes we think, well, I'm gonna lose my life for the advancement of the church. It's too low of a vision.
I'm gonna lose my life for my family stability. That won't carry you through. God's saying, come up higher and see this grand gospel plan I have, and you're gonna get lost in the beauty of it, and and I'm gonna fill you with fresh zeal and fire for life today. So I just pray that for all of us, Lord, set us free from just being obsessed with ourselves. We need to care for ourselves and our family, but, Lord, put it in the proper place that as we come into agreement with your heart, Lord, it's like we get underneath the tap of your grace and glory, your favor, your provision.
Lord, your resource, your abundance begins to flow through our life emotionally, spiritually, Lord. We pray for this body. Let us all let us all you know, Paul says, he says, you guys get to partake of the fatness of the root.
That's the
oil, the good the goodness of the root. So, father, I pray that as we honor Israel, lord, as we come into your heart for Israel, I just prophesy we, as a community, are gonna partake of the oil, the fatness of the root in Jesus' name.
I'm gonna as we transition to, offering an announcements, Israel can seem so theoretical. It can seem so conceptual. It can seem very abstract. But, I just wanna ask if, personally, you would keep, a dear family of ours in your prayers. They are out of harm's way, like, right now.
I know. Sorry for the beard. I was trying to decide if I wanted to either start a church or a cult. See what happens. But this was this was several years ago.
On the on the left there, that's Jacob and Sherry, and we met them before Lisa and I had kids. They were traveling through and we're like, oh, you're, like, you're Israeli. You're God's chosen people. Come stay with us. And they, like, stayed with us for a few days, and we started a beautiful friendship, and we've been friends with them since before we had kids.
And they have a beautiful family of three. Their, oldest daughter is taking the photo. I don't know if the other picture it's okay. Her name is Gilly, and she is two weeks into military. Every every man and woman when they turn 18 or after they graduate high school, they serve two years in the IDF, Israeli Defense Force.
And so, like, imagine that being and then you can go on to college or things like that. They're they're safe up north of the region of Galilee, not quite as far north as the Golan. They're safe, but their daughter is two weeks into the military. So when you think of Israel, if you're like, I need something to connect it with, you can connect this family and and their face to to Israel. And if if Hezbollah in the North from Syria, if they're like, hey.
This is a good idea. Israel is distracted in the South with Hamas. If Syrian back, they will be in in very immediate danger. So, please be praying for them. With that in mind, as we give of ourselves to to pray for Israel and the situation, as we pray for the lord's heart, let's give of ourselves as we give a portion of our finances to the Lord by telling him we love you and we we trust you.
I'll just pray over the offering really quickly, and we don't have any announcements. We just finished a great season. As other things come up, we'll be letting you know through our tribe fan text blast. You can see on the screen the way that that most people give through their smartphone. Why don't I pray over the offering, and then we'll dismiss it.
We'll make sure, Caleb, to lift up your family. Lord Jesus, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being so as a as a tangible, tactical, practical practical way of telling you that we love you and we trust you.
We surrender a portion of our finances to you, Lord. God, I ask that you would use these finances to make your name famous here at Tribe, in Jackson Hole, pray pray that We We we be do
And
to to do that.
Stand do up? I'll keep going. Don't want the shirts. Lisa just sent me a text. I better check-in to make sure.
Hello. Nope. She's just at the football game.
That's that's
the only announcement from Alyssa. Boy, I sure love you guys. For years, we've been talking about the return of Jesus and Israel and end times. Did it get a little more real for y'all? It's gonna get more and more real for all of us.
So, lord Jesus, I pray for each and every member of our tribe family gathered here today. Even if this is your first time and it might only be your last time, we're kind of like the Olive Garden. If you're here, you're family. And so, father, I pray for all of our tribe family here today and all of our families that are watching on livestream. I command a blessing to be released over their life.
I command a blessing of clarity, sobriety, passion, confidence, and leadership over every one of them for the days ahead, starting with tomorrow morning, Monday. Lord, bless them. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I'm going to invite John and Christie and Colin and Jen to be available for prayer right over here.
You've you've been deputized. So, if there's anything that you need prayer for, Caleb, get your family over there. If anybody needs prayer for anything else, please, like, come and see them. I hope that you have an incredible, blessed, encouraging, empowering week. And remember, you got this.
