The Deeper Root

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

So

this week, Project Hail Mary is coming out. I don't know if anybody is as excited. Yes, but I need the bell to start like Doctor. Ricken. Alright.

Well, that's enough cultural relevancy to last us for a whole year. But I am really excited about Project Hail Mary. It's a movie that I'm really looking forward to. And with this crazy of a winter and I don't know, is it spring? Is it summer?

Like, be Leo's like, I don't even I don't even know what what is happening right now in this season. This has been the wackiest winter that I can remember probably since living here and so, if this by chance is your first winter living here, normally, we do have a winter that lasts all winter but yeah and winter usually lasts through the spring and then spring comes and then but we'll see what happens this year. I also I also have some other good news. The other good news is that this will be, well, I don't know, maybe it's good news or not, just pretend like you want it to keep going on forever and you're learning so much. But this will be the second to last week of our Israel series.

So so next next Sunday, we're going to wrap it up. So, make sure you get all of your provocative questions and statements out this Sunday and next Sunday because we're gonna we're gonna land the plane next Sunday. But then, oh, speaking of Israel, I'm not in Israel. You're not? No.

I'm not. I was I was supposed to be in Israel, but that with the conflict with Iran, they postponed the trip to next fall. So, like this fall. So, we're tentatively rescheduled for in the fall. So, in the fall, I'll be in Israel.

This was right in the middle of the trip and I know that you are really looking forward to Connor preaching one of those Sundays. And then Colson was going to preach. Whoo. So, we'll have them on deck for sometime soon and then let them jump in in the fall. So, I think I've got all of my like.

Oh, yes. How many of y'all will be here Sunday, April 5 for Easter? Okay. So, that's a lot of us. Joy will be here but Isaac won't be.

Quick, check with your spouse. Get your spring break plans and the Easter. Yeah. Alright. Okay.

Great. Oh, yeah. It's we'll we'll hit that. We'll hit that with announcements. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alright. So, we are in a series of conversations that I'm calling Unbreakable, and as we have discussed now for several weeks, that in this series of conversations, we are talking about not only a unique distinct history has proven to be an unbreakable people but mostly focusing on god's relentless, persistent, unbreakable love and commitment towards a unique and distinct people. That's why we're calling it Unbreakable, not interminable, but unbreakable. That was a joke at my own expense at the length of this number of conversations. And by way of quick review, last week, we were talking about how the people are connected to the land and what we said was borders drawn without god are lines drawn against god.

That was kind of our our our main takeaway and what I mean by that is governments and geopolitical entities can draw lines on a map however they want. And history has shown that those lines change and shift and move around, mostly decided by political maneuvering and by violence. But at the end of the day, the only territorial borders that ultimately matter are those drawn by god and if you think that god does not care about boundaries and borders and territories, you are invited to dig into your Bible more. One of the character attributes about god is he is a territorial god. Because why else would he not describe his realm as a kingdom?

There's no such thing as a kingdom that doesn't have borders and boundaries. And when Jesus came the first time, he established the kingdom of God where? In human hearts. That's right. He established the kingdom.

He set boundaries and territories for himself demarcated by outer limits that currently include human hearts and as the Bible says that Jesus says, go and make disciples, teaching them to obey and he says, he gives territory reads. He says, here in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. So, there is a kingdom that is being established and being advanced according to the boundaries of human hearts right now but historically, God has concerned himself with boundaries and territories and borders, and there's coming a kingdom that will be established here on Earth that will have real territorial geographical boundaries. And so whether it is Palestine or Jordan or Saudi Arabia or Israel or Syria or Lebanon or The United States or the UN, no matter who draws boundaries on a map, this holds true. Borders drawn without god are lines drawn against god.

Any questions or like like like help me to like, should I unpack this a little bit more? I mean, we we did last week. So, I I don't wanna belabor this, but I feel like it's important to to review just to touch on before we jump into new stuff today. But Okay, everybody is is with me. Alright.

So, if you're taking notes, at the top of your notes this morning, you can write the title of the conversation that we're going to have and I'm calling it Unbreakable Week eight: A Deeper Root. So, we're not going to mow over the same grass that we've already covered, but we're going to come at a topic that we have touched on in previous weeks. We're going to come at it from a little bit different angle but we're going to go deeper. So, if you have your Bible with you this morning, let's open up to Genesis chapter 16 and we're going to read some verses together. Genesis chapter 16.

We're going to read verses one through five and just like we always do here in the TMC, we like to have a conversational format. We like we like to engage with each other as we engage with the text and we prime the pump most Sunday mornings by taking turns reading out loud and so we have a mic in the room. The mic is for people that are traveling and gone that get to participate in service through the live stream and so, would somebody be willing to kick us off? Oh, Boden, that is so awesome. Thank you for just like raising your hand and and being willing to read for us from Genesis chapter 16 verses one through five.

You don't have to read the whole thing but just get us started there. That is just so awesome. One through 15. One through 15. But you don't have to go the whole way.

Yeah. Just just get it started. Yep. Maybe the mic was muted.

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarah. So after Abram lived ten years in So

we're gonna call that a practice run, and you're doing so good. I mean, do we want him to restart? Colin wants you to restart.

Hello. Hello.

There he is. So

after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan.

Redo again.

Go.

So, after Abraham ended ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abraham's wife took Hagar, the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abraham, her husband as a wife. And he went to Hagar and she conceived and went and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai took said to Abram, may the wrong done to me be on you. I gave my servant to your embrace. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt.

May the lord judge between you and me.

But but Abraham said to Sarai, behold, your servant is in your power. Do to her as you please. Then Sarai dealt harshly with her and she fled from her. The angel of the lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to shore. And he said, Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?

She said, I am fleeing from my mistress, Sarai. The angel of the lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit to her. The angel of the lord also said to her, I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for the multitude, for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shake, shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.

He shall be a wild donkey of a man. His hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him. And he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her. You are a God of seeing.

For she for she said, truly here I have seen him who looks after me. Therefore, the well was was called Beerliar Roy. It lies between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to to Abram.

Okay. Great job. So what what we're doing today is we're looking at the deeper the deeper roots of what can be described today as antisemitism. And this is not on the screen, but whenever you're having a conversation about really important things and or controversial things like antisemitism, it's probably good to define terms. I didn't put this up on the screen.

You can listen and or write it down quickly, but I define antisemitism as hostility, prejudice, or hatred directed towards Jews simply because they are Jews. Do you feel like that definition needs to be modified in any way or reduced or expanded. This is just an open question. Not trying to lead you anywhere yet. It's great.

I'll read it one more time. Antisemitism is hostility, prejudice, or hatred directed towards Jews simply because they are Jews. So, we can come back to that definition But what it often looks like practically, people, if you were to like, if they were filling out their voter registration, you know, like, check this box, you have brown hair, check this, you know, your age, and what religion are you? Okay, you check Christian. Okay.

Are you anti Semitic? Yes or no? You check the no box. Okay. And then you go on with what?

Hopefully, you check no

box. But, hey, are you really a Christian? And, B, is there is there a a a weed, even a small little sprout of antisemitism and what it looks like many times in big, broad brush strokes is saying making big, broad generalization statements like the Jews. The Jews. Blaming all of the world's problems on the Jews.

You might be an anti Semite. Blaming the Jews for your problems. You might be an you might not be anti Semitic, but there could be a I wanna I wanna be gracious to you and say there could be a root like a little weed of antisemitism that that would spring up in your heart. And if you sitting here today are like, that would never ever ever be me. That's great, but I think that it's important that we all are really honest with ourselves about our human nature.

Our human nature is fertile soil for all kinds of seeds to be sprinkled in there. Does that make sense? So, while you may not be anti Semitic, we must admit that we A, all have the capacity to be anti Semitic, and B, the soil of our heart and our minds and our psyche, the soil of who we are is fertile soil for all kinds of seeds including the seed of antisemitism that would be sprinkled in our heart. Isaac, what do you have?

I I agree with what you're saying but I think there should be some room for if there was a person, an individual who was doing wrong in the world whether that's child trafficking or doing bad things that just happens to be a Jewish person. I don't think you should not speak up against that person just because they're Jewish being to be afraid to be called a anti Semite or anti Jew. Like, I think there's there needs to be room for that.

Oh, fantastic statement that I agree with.

Completely. And the statement I was just thinking that same thing. The statement would be, isn't that awful what so and so did? Yes. The sign would be, isn't that awful what the Jews did?

Right. It's when you blanket what one person did who is also Jewish in any realm. I was just gonna say, Kai, our son who goes to Grand Canyon University, his roommate, they were walking down the hall the other day and he was looking at something on social media and his roommate said, I'm so sick of the Jews owning all the banks. And I'm just saying, that's a real conversation that happened among twenty one year olds. And this is a Christian, and Kai said, what did you just say?

And that's a that's an example of a generalization of the Jews owning all the banks. Like, he just made that statement, and Kai was like, I don't think Jews own all the banks. But anyway, that was just a real life example.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Go ahead.

You're preemptively saying yes to me, that's great, yes. Great

input, Gretchen.

I think also it's, well a couple of things, but another clue is if you're outraged by all the Jews owning the banks, the Jews running Hollywood, the Jews running the news, those type of generalization and stereotypes. And then also if you're outraged that Israel is doing something, another country did the same thing and you have no feelings about that. That would be another sign to me that, okay, why is, not to say that you are, you might not be, it might just be the thing that's in the forefront of your mind, but pay attention to that. Selective criticism. Yeah, is that, yeah.

And then the other thing that I was gonna say is I kind of have really been lately viewing things like it's a spirit of anti Semitism. Sorry. But we say sometimes, oh it's a spirit of distraction in the room. That doesn't mean that every person in the room is a distracting person, or is bad, or whatever, but they are being affected maybe by a spirit of distraction. So, we just have to always be vigilant of like, not to say like, you're a terrible person, but you

might be affected by a

spirit That's of great. Gretchen and Lissa, your contributions are accurate and fantastic. No. No. No.

But Isaac, I really appreciate the Yes. The angle that you brought because I think that it's easy. I think there's a great potential for people to hear what I'm not saying.

Yes.

And and you vocalized a very real and accurate point that you brought to the discussion that is not contrarian or in opposition to what I'm trying to share with y'all but is a very valid point that needs to be held intention in the larger conversation. Having two eyes and a critical thinking brain to see what's going on in the world does not make you antisemitic. It makes you a a current events critical thinker. In being able to accurate accurate because it's so it's so hard. We're so distant and removed.

But being able to think critically about situations does not make you anti Semitic. Never ever ever once have I said or will I ever make or ask you to make some sort of blanket, carte blanche endorsement, blind support of anyone or any people group including Israel and so, I I I'm very thankful that you brought that into the conversation. Okay? So so Gretchen brought up there could be a root of antisemitism with with these some of these things that we said but Gretchen also brought up this the the spirit, but what you you said just before that. Selective criticism?

Yes. The selective criticism. Like, you can you can point out and see the the fault in Israel about fill in the blank, but yet have nothing to say about somebody else or some other people group committing or perpetrating or conducting themselves in the exact same way. One one last one would be obsessing over conspiracies that identify the Jews. If all of your trace it back to the source, you land at the Jews that could be there could be a weed of anti Semitism that that is growing.

That that without correction will blossom and expand and grow. It is a pernicious weed. So, back to Genesis chapter 16, it's it's all related but Genesis chapter 16 is historically, would you go back one slide? Thank you. Genesis chapter 16, this story that we just read is is broadly, commonly, widely, traditionally accepted as the Genesis, if you will, the starting point, the flash point, the origin, the beginning of the conflict between what will later become the Jews and another family member.

And so, who is the child that we are introduced to in Genesis chapter 16 verse one through. Ishmael, okay? So, Ishmael is the family progenitor of a larger family branch that will be at historical odds with the brother of promise, the later to be born brother and his name is Isaac. Okay? So, are are you with me so far?

Yes. Alright, look at verse 12. Thank you, sir. This is the prophecy spoken about Ishmael. This son of yours will be a wild man as untamed as a wild donkey.

He will raise his fist against everyone and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all of his relatives. So, this verse, whether you know it or not or maybe maybe you don't. Is what we would out of this branch of the family tree is what we would call today's modern day Arab nation. Does that does that make sense?

Okay. Okay. This is the moment where the identity of what would ethnically be called Arab nations, and we're going to talk more about that. Their identity is galvanized right here in this prophecy. And the conflict continues between these two brothers and it extends even until today.

Let's jump forward in this Genesis story to another passage. Genesis chapter 25 and let me read this to you. I don't know if I have it up there. Genesis 25. Look at verses 12 through 17.

Oh yeah, I do. I have the address up here. I'll go ahead and read this. This is the account of the family of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian servant. Here is the list.

By their names, clans of Ishmael's descendants. The oldest was Neobiah followed by Kadar, Abneel, Mib Sam, Misham, Duma, Massa, Heydad, Tema, Timu, wait, just kidding. Jet Ru, Napish, and Kedarmah. Whoo. These 12 sons of Ishmael.

Wow. I I wanted to only do this to myself. These 12 sons of Ishmael's became the founders of 12 tribes named after them. Listed according to the place they settled and camped. Ishmael lived for a hundred and thirty seven years then he breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death.

Ishmael's descendants occupied. This is important. Verse 18, Ishmael's descendants occupied the region from Havilah to Shore which is East Of Egypt in the direction of Ashur. There, they lived in open hostility towards all of their relatives. Some translations say neighbors.

So, two times now, we have seen this biblical description of this particular branch of the family tree as being contentious and hostile. Well, where did this contentious and and hostility come from? There is a clue given to us in Genesis chapter 16 verse four. I don't know if I have verse four up there but go to your go now flip back really quick. Look at Genesis chapter 16 and look at verse four.

What can you see in verse four that could give us a clue as to why this hostility. So, here we go. Here it comes. Here it comes.

Well, Sari, first of all, disobeyed the Lord and tried to take matters into her own hands, which is a big no no. And then the mistress became despised in her eyes because she did give birth to a son before she did.

So, God speaks a promise to Abraham, you'll be the father of many nations, and I'm gonna bless you. But Abraham was an old dude at this age beyond he and his wife, beyond childbearing years. So just like Gretchen said, Abram tries to take matters into his own hands and and actually Sarai says, hey, I can't have a kid, but maybe you can have a child that's going to be the promise through my handmaiden Hagar. So, Sarai gives Hagar to Abram. Abram's like, okay.

He wasn't like throwing throwing up like, no. No. Don't. So, Abram makes his own problems. He gets the Egyptian slave girl, Hagar, pregnant, and then Hagar begins to treat Sarai with that keyword is contempt.

It's in your bible. Contempt. I don't know if your translation has a different word. Hagar begins to treat Sarai with contempt like, I'm pregnant. I'm blessed.

You're not.

Oh. That's how I read it.

Wait. She

began to treat her mistress.

Conceive. Her mistress became Despised in her eyes. Her eyes. Sorry. Sarah.

Whatever.

We should get clarification on this. So how does yours read? Does somebody else have a different translation that's perhaps a little more clear?

She looked with consensual upon

her mistress. No. So Sarai looked with contempt upon her mistress Hagar.

Look. She began to treat her mistress, Sarah

Yes. With contempt. There you go.

Hagar had contempt towards Sarah.

Yes. I'm pregnant. I'm cool. You're not. So so you you may need to read it a couple of times.

Hagar has contempt for Sarai. This is important.

Oh. Mistress

means slave owners.

I'm not

afraid. Okay.

Yes. Okay. My mistress, my my master. Hagar has contempt for Sarai. Got it.

There we go. Hey. Look. Maybe we should just land the plane there. Like, we got we we got it.

It's important for us it's important for us to to understand this moment because that Hebrew word contempt, we see it carry on. Contempt in the Hebrew means to treat lightly or not heavy. And so here's the picture. Hagar did not honor the authority of her mistress Sarai. Hagar began to despise Sarai because she was pregnant and and supposedly going to carry on the promise but Sarai was still technically the boss.

Hagar should have been like, why I why aren't I favored? I'm the one that's going to bear the son that's going to produce the promise. Why am I still a slave? So, she treated Sarai, the Bible says with contempt and the Hebrew definition of that word means to treat lightly, to not esteem, to not honor, to not give Sarai her proper place. And it's important to keep that tucked in your mind because we're gonna see it crop up later.

And so here's the question. How do we get from Ishmael to modern Arabs today? That's a very reasonable question. Okay. So I got Ishmael.

I got that he's in conflict with his son with ape with his half brother, Isaac. We read the prophecy about Ishmael in Genesis 25 verse 12 through 17. Well, not really the prophecy but like how it played out. We'd know that Isaac is born and if you go back and read those those chapters, you can see that Isaac and his older half brother, Ishmael, are constantly bickering and fighting and finally, Abraham has to send off Ishmael. He he he has him leave the family and then in verse 25 or chapter 25, we see that he lived in a region in hostility with all of his neighbors.

So how do we get from this bible story to modern day Arabs? It's important to be able to trace the family tree because otherwise, I would just be making a a large potentially illegitimate and unfounded jump. So, how do we connect modern day Arab nations with ancient Ishmael? Well, there are three strands, three cords that are braided together that we can look at that I'll I'll briefly share with you. First of all, there is the ethnic strand.

So, bloodline and if you look in, you don't need to turn there but you will remember the story. In Genesis chapter 25, remember when the 12 brothers of Jacob, the 12 sons of Jacob, take their little brother, Joseph, and they beat him up and they throw him in the well, remember? And they're like, we should kill him and they're like, no, no, no. Let's not kill him. Let, what was the alternative suggestion that was thrown out?

Let's sell him into slavery and then, who comes along? Do you remember? The Arabs. So, the so what? Potiphar does not come along, but he gets sold to Potiphar, but in the well, if you go back and look at the story, the Bible says there are some Ishmaelite traders that are coming up from the desert on their way to Egypt.

Ishmaelite traders directly comes from that son, Ishmael. So we have an ethnic bloodline and where are they coming from? They're coming from the desert to the East Of Egypt, which brings us to our next braided thread that they're not only an ethnic strand, but there's also a geographical strand. And what we just read in Genesis 25, we see that they are connected ethnically by tribes. Interestingly enough, Lisa and I were in Saudi Arabia last fall, and this is so unfamiliar to us except for maybe a few of you Oklahomans.

But here in The United States, we think nothing about tribes. Like, it it means absolutely nothing to us. But today, in Saudi Arabia, we were talking with our drivers and our guides, and we were asking them about, like, how long have you lived here? And he's like, what do you mean how long have I lived here? Like, as long as my family goes back, we have lived in Saudi Arabia.

And I was like, tell me more about that. And he's like, oh, there are four major tribes in Saudi Arabia. And it was just fascinating to me that still today, in 2020, it was 2025, still today, that there there is this tribal identity. But we saw this all the way back in Genesis chapter 25, that these tribes existed that are related to this guy named Ishmael, and they have an ethnic tie. They have a a geographical tie being from what would today be The Middle East and predominantly Saudi Arabia.

But then there's one other tie that that binds what today we would call modern Arabs together. Can anybody think of what that could be? We have a we have a geographical, we have an ethnic, and there's one other. Religious tie. Religious tie.

Absolutely. So, if you look at the if if if you read the Quran or if you read the history of the religion of Islam thank you. You will see that according to the founding alleged prophet's own genealogy that Abraham gave birth to Ishmael, Ishmael gave birth to one of his sons named Adan. Adan became these northern Arab tribes, and that tribe is the tribe that Muhammad came out of that had a revelation from an angel and founded the religion that we know of today as Islam. Are you with me?

Yep.

Okay. Okay. So, Arab, the modern modern Arab nation can trace its threads all the way back to Ishmael. With Ishmael, we can see the conflict between his half brother, Ishmael and Isaac. Now, we fast forward all the way to today, Isaac, their family tree of what we would call Jews today and who they are in greatest conflict with would be the modern outgrowth of the family tree of Ishmael which would be the modern Arabs that have an ethnic, almost a geological, geographic, and a religious connection where we get today's modern day Muslim Muslim religion, the religion of Islam.

Now the religion of Islam has spread beyond ethnic boundaries because it's not confined to just an ethnicity. For example, what kind of besides Arabs, what is the second largest ethnicity of the religion of Islam? That's right. Asian. Throughout the Indo Pacific region, Thailand, I could just blank on my geography, throughout the Indo Pacific region, Thailand, through all of those islands through there, Burma, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, those way more than Buddhism.

The religion of Islam is like exploded. So it extends beyond. And even in The United States, did you know that in Texas alone, there are over 540 different like either Islamic center or mosques established just in the state of Texas alone. Over 800 in the state of Florida. Wyoming has one.

I don't know where it is. I imagine Casper or Cheyenne or

Not in

Casper. We have fact

checker right here.

Fact checker from Casper. There's no there is no mosque in so I I'm not sure where it was. But so Not rich. We not to be repeated in the mic but really funny. If there were a town in Wyoming.

Alright. Alright. Alright. You said you weren't gonna repeat it. So we can see today's modern conflict between Jews and Arab Muslims playing out on the world stage today.

But we need to look for a deeper root, which is exactly where Gretchen was going. The root of antisemitism goes much deeper. And to give you a lightning fast crash course, I know that you'll keep up because you understand this but you know that god created one of the angels with a name called Lucifer, Lucifer tried to exalt himself above the throne of god. You can read about this in Isaiah chapter 14 and I and Ezekiel chapter 28. The Bible says, that pride was found in his heart when he said, I will ascend over the throne of the gods.

I will exalt myself. So, what was the keyword that I hold you that I told you to hold in mind? Contempt. Contempt. The angel, Lucifer, held the throne and the authority of god in contempt to treat it lightly, to not give it the respect and worthiness that it deserved and so, he attempted to ascend and god was like, I'm not having it.

He was cast out of heaven and as a result of the expulsion, Satan rages to this day with contempt and virulent rancor against god. Now, we know that god is undefeatable and Satan cannot attack to god directly. So, Satan has instead attacked what belongs to god and carries god image and purpose. Cue the story in the garden with the serpent in Adam and Eve. The enemy tempts Satan, excuse me, the enemy Satan tempts Adam and Eve.

They eat of the fruit of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. They fall. Their nakedness is exposed. God has to deal with Adam and Eve and there is a prophecy given spoken to the serpent and what is the gist of that prophecy spoken to the serpent in the garden. There will a woman will give birth to someone who will crush the head of the serpent.

There will be there will be conflict and enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman will come that will crush the head of the serpent. So, that prophecy is is out there and ever since that prophecy was spoken, the enemy knowing that he can't get at god is going to try to do everything he can to thwart that prophecy from coming true. If I can wipe out the people, then the prophecy, the seed of the woman cannot come forth. So, we see that Cain kills Abel. We see that because of fallen angels intermarrying with the daughters of men that the bloodline gets polluted and people have to get wiped out in the flood.

Later, the attempt to thwart the prophecy of the coming skull crusher is attempted to be thwarted through bondage and slavery in Egypt and then the decree of the pharaoh saying, throw all of the male babies into the Nile River. That didn't stop it. Haman tries to kill the Jews. That did not stop the prophecy. Fast forward the story, Herod issues a decree to kill all of the Jews.

That does not stop the prophecy. Jesus comes the first time establishes the territory of his kingdom where?

In human hearts.

In human hearts. But the prophecy is that there will come a day of a a future coming day of the skull crusher coming back to put an end to his line and so we fast forward from Jesus. We see the single greatest attempt in modern history to wipe out the prophecy committed by Hitler and the Nazis wiping out 6,000,000 Jews in World War two, systematically murdering them in death camps like Birkenau, Auschwitz, Dachau across Eastern Europe but that still did not thwart god's plan and prophecy to bring about the fulfillment of his promise and when the enemy realized that he could not stop the growth of the prophecy being fulfilled through a people, maybe just maybe, I can prevent them from having a homeland and for thousands of years, he did until until the Balfour Declaration, until what we know of 1947 as the the the UN Commission that finally established and then acknowledged Israel having a homeland in their historical homeland that today we know of more or less as the modern boundaries of Israel but still the plan of the enemy is to thwart to not allow that prophecy to come to fulfillment.

Let me show you a really interesting picture of that effort even today. So, this is in Jerusalem. You can go and see this today. In fact, if you're standing on the Mount Of Olives, you can look across what's known as the Kidron Valley and see this gate. So, on the other side is the old city of Jerusalem.

This is what we're looking at outside the city and what do you notice about that gate? It's closed. Not only is it just closed but what? It is it is bricked off, closed permanently. Now, what else do you notice about in front of this gate?

Some stuff. Is it is it old foundations? Is it stones? If you look closely, you will see that this is a graveyard. This is a graveyard in front of this gate, Angels.

You can see it today. And you're like, oh, okay. I don't quite understand. Well, it's really amazing when you do understand that this gate is known as the Eastern Gate or what's known as the Golden Gate and the Bible prophesies that when the Messiah returns, he will enter Jerusalem through this gate. Yep.

And in during a Muslim Islamic occupation of the old city of Jerusalem, the governor, the magistrate of that during that time knew the prophecy. He does not want the Jewish Messiah to come back and so, he ordered that this gate be closed. Let's see him get through a gate that has been in the city that has been bricked off and walled off. And then on top of that, if that's not enough, they began to bury the bodies of Muslims that have died right here in front of this gate because if the Messiah is a Jew which is prophesied, that when he returns to Jerusalem, that he will enter into this Eastern Gate, no self respecting Jew would ever set foot on an Islamic or a Muslim's grave. So we'll bury all of our Muslims here so that not only can he not physically get through but he wouldn't dare tread foot on top of a Muslim grave.

The deeper root of antisemitism has nothing to do actually with Islam. Think of Islam as the glove. Remember Glovey a couple years ago? Think of Islam as the as the glove in the hand of the enemy in the glove. He desperately does not want to see the return of the Messiah.

Messiah. Jewish Messiah. And today, we see the outgrowth, the spilling over of this rancor and visceral against the Jews. And I I have another clip for you. We'll we're gonna land the plane with this clip.

But, yeah, go to that slide. Go to that slide. It's it's where it's worth explaining this slide. This is my summary of the Jewish Palestinian conflict. And it's another physics illustration.

Rylan Grace would be so proud of me. So, what principle of physics is being illustrated here? A lever and you can you can never have a lever without a Fulcrum. Fulcrum. So fulcrum is a pivot point.

That's Palestine. On one side of the lever is Israel and if you have a lever and a fulcrum, the greater your lever arm, the greater force you can exert on the other side of the fulcrum, right? So, we have here, I'm going to say it, a demonically inspired Islamic jihadist movement who's stated clear goal is to push Israel into the sea. And they are using today the the the nation, the people, and the geographical boundaries of Palestine as a fulcrum. Now, have you ever mechanics, you can speak to this.

Have you ever gotten your finger pinched here? Under that like enormous pressure is exerted which allows if your lever arm is long enough to lift a really heavy object with relative ease, right? But there's a lot. This is a crushing force that is part of my heart, part of my heart feels very sympathetic for a people that are being used as pawns in a demonically inspired initiative to push Israel into the sea. So, what's the deal with Palestine in in Israel and that conflict?

Just show him this picture and be like, talk to pastor Brian. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's pretty self explanatory right there. It's all you need to see. So, I wanna show you a quick video and then we're gonna land the plane about how this rage boils over into today's modern culture that we all encounter and see on a regular basis.

And thank you so much. Usually, tell you like, oh, hey. I've got a video clip, but you're you're on it.

The slowest

Volume upper.

Upper on

the face of the

Not on your part, Elizabeth.

Yeah. It is not due to operator. Yeah. Try that. This is what people were clapping and cheering and celebrating.

The ancient conflict between Ishmael and Isaac still carries on today. Today, it takes on the form of radical Islamic jihadism committed to the extermination of Jews. And many people around the world unknowingly play into the hands of the enemy by celebrating and cheering, thinking that the Palestinian movement is a a freedom liberation movement. They're unknowingly, unwittingly playing right into the hands being becoming themselves pawns of the enemy. The deeper root is a spiritual conflict.

And the last thing that I'm gonna say is is this, I'll put it right up here on the screen. Antisemitism is the serpent's fury against the nation that bears the promise of defeat. Remember I told y'all years, maybe a year or two long before 10/07/2023. We did a series of conversations about where you hang your hat and that the world would love to to create a narrative that's a nice big hook for you to hang your hat on but that when you hang your hat on that hook, you are agreeing and partnering with that and the challenge for our tribe fam was to hang our hat not on what the world says but on the truth of the word of god And be careful of where you hang your hat. The world would love to portray and garner sympathy for the Palestinian cause.

And there is nothing wrong with being sympathetic for a people. Nothing wrong with that at all. If you are a critical thinking thinker and have a biblical understanding of the great forces that are at play. Far be it from our tribe fam that you would be sympathetic for a group of people that, for the sake of this conversation, we'll call Palestinians At the expense of the fulfillment of God's promise through a chosen group of people called Israel, the invitation today is to be a critical thinker, to look closely at these things. And next week, we're gonna land the plane by talking about how does all of this end?

Where where is all of this going? We've been looking at the past a lot. We've been looking at current events a lot. We're going to end this series of conversations by looking towards a very interesting and hope filled future for what will play out before and as the Messiah returns to Earth. And so that's where we're going with this conversation, how we're going to end.

Normally, we go like by the tone of my voice going into like the ministry moment but would anybody have any questions or or thoughts really quick before we land the plane? Oh, yes. Sorry.

Just that like I think that there's a good lesson in here too of what pride and hate do if not confronted with the love of Jesus. And like Hagar, like the sins of the father will be passed on to the sons, right? That I think hate begets hate. And that line was allowed to continue to perpetuate that hate and grow and grow. And the only thing that can stop that is the love of Jesus.

And I think that that's why it's so important for us to check our own hearts and make sure that we don't have hate towards anyone and why it's so important that we spread Jesus to as many people as possible because that's how this ends.

He he and his love is the pesticide for the root of hate. Press that as a shirt. I'm gonna invite Amanda to come forward, share offering announcements with us and then a quick Easter thing and then we'll get out of here. Okay.

So when you hear a message like today and some of you might be like, yep, on it. Yep, got it. Check. And some of you might be like, oh no, am I antisemitic? Like in in an honest question or have I had a root that's come up?

And I would just encourage you, the way our North Star is scripture is Jesus, right? That's what we stay rooted in. That's what we stay grounded in. The word, the word, the word. The Bible says that it never changes.

Jesus says the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, what is written in the Bible is still true for us today and Psalm one three is talking about a righteous man, talking about us and it says that we are to be like trees planted by the river. Of life, which is the word. So we are like trees rooted and grounded in scripture. So if you're ever worried or nervous or like, does this make sense?

Just the word, the word, the word, and community and people that you trust that love Jesus, it's important to stay plugged in but you don't have to go through these questions alone and you can always ask us here, anybody that you see holding the mic ever at at drag. We know we can ask you. Answer those questions. But I just wanna encourage you in that as we are finishing this series and as we go on. Please always ask Brian questions if you have them.

And if you don't wanna do it during service, do it after. Or you can text him and he'll he'll talk. Take

a picture

of Brian's number and please put this as the contact image. That's my pastor. Okay. Well, every time that we gather, you guys know we always bring portion of our finances. It's called our tithe and above that is our offering.

We see it as an act of obedience to the lord. Whether you do it in this moment or another time, we see it as an act of obedience saying, god, it's all yours anyway. You are my creator. You help me steward things well, my finances, my time, my relationships. We want to be good stewards of what our heavenly father has gifted us with and so, as believers in a local church, we bring a portion of our finances every week and whatever your rhythm is and we just say, lord, it's yours anyway and it goes to do the work of the ministry.

So, let's pray and then I'll give you tell you ways to give. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for who you are. Thank you that you are never not faithful. Thank you that your word, your promises, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, not condemnation, very different, but the precious conviction of the Holy Spirit is something that we have as a gift. So we can just stay calibrated with you.

Help us to major on what you major on and minor what you minor on. Help us to just as a people stay grounded in the word because that is the truth, the capital t truth. Thank you for who you are and that you are unchanging. Thank you for the gift of community, the gift of local church, the gift of scripture, the gift of us living in a place right now where we can just open the Bible freely, where we can worship you freely. What an honor it is to partner with you.

Thank you, Lord. I just thank you for tribe. As long as you're calling us to be a local church, we commit just good stewardship to you and I pray that every single penny that comes in with tithe and offering will just go and do the work of the ministry as we say Jesus to make your name famous. We thank you so much for your faithfulness, for who you are, and how you love. We love you, lord, and we honor you when we bring our tithe and above and beyond that and offering.

We say thank you. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Ways to give here at Tribe are downstairs. There's a black lock box.

You can come and give any time. There was a fresh batch of $2 bills in there the other day. It's really cool. I don't know why I said that. That was sort of private.

And then you can give in this little box on the way out here as Ella is showing you. And then always on our website, tribejh.com and then, of course, you can type a number to like a new text, (833) 369-7847. Type the word give, the dollar sign, and the amount you'd like to give and it takes you to a little website. Do you want to talk about Easter or would you like me to? I can.

Yeah. In case Brian forgets, we're going to sign up for food at Easter. There's a sheet that Ella has. Please sign up for like potluck style food.

Not to our Easter service but after. After. Yes. So, that that'd be fun. We're going to have we're going to send out an electronic version of our Easter graphic to you today.

And then we're also getting nice scrunchy eyebrows, Jen. We're also we're also getting printouts, handouts, invites printed for you to hand out to your friends. And if this is like if you don't understand this, there's a lot going on with graphic. I'll explain more later but what does this remind you of, Jacob? Rage.

Rage Against the Machine, one of my favorite bands before I got saved and one of their songs is called Bulls On Parade. Don't worry, we're not going to play the song. We're not going to endorse the band but it's all related and connected to a theme that we're going to talk about at Easter. How many of you would come to Easter regardless of the graphic? That's all of you.

Raise your hand. How many of you have a friend that would never set foot in a church but made somehow connect either to the creativity of the graphic or connect with the band and spark their interest and be like, I might come to check that out. How many of you would have a friend that maybe, alright, you're, the graphic is for your friends, not for you. Alright? But it all relates and is connected to a theme.

We'll talk more about it. So, I'm so glad that you guys are all excited about this graphic and we'll talk more about it next week. Stand up. Let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for each and every person that is here even visiting from across the state.

Lord, I command a blessing on every single person here. Lord, I ask that even though the weather is crazy and chaotic, that you would give us calmness, hope, and peace as we go through this spring. Lord, give us a great week. We pray these things. In Jesus name, the strong son of god and everybody said, amen.

I love you. Have a great week and I'll see y'all next week. Yes. You got this.