More On Our Side Than On Theirs Tribe 2023-10-09 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- 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. You're dismissed. I still know. Okay. Yeah.