Distinct Among the Nations

Get some coffee. We had to do a switcheroo so the majority of the coffee’s upstairs today. So don’t don’t panic if there wasn’t coffee next. We worship the Lord with Was that me? We worship the Lord with worship this morning.

We worship the Lord through the ministry of hugs as delivered by Gretchen this morning. So who needs one? She is open and available. Yep. No.

Yes. You can help me. Could I get my coffee drink, right over there? That was amazing. Said, can I do anything for you?

Is that are you doing it because you really need a hug? Well, I well, I mean, while you’re here Alright, guys. How how are we doing back there? Is that you probably want me to keep talking. Right?

Okay. It sounds a little hot, and there’s some reverb in there. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, let’s look at Jeremiah chapter 31. We did read this last week. We’re gonna read this, again this week, and we’re going to read verses one through 22.

And when we engage in a series of conversations together that we spend a number of weeks on, not always, but many times, we will have one single passage that the entire series is based on or that we springboard off of, and I know that this is not the only time during the whole week that you crack open your Bibles. Right, tribe fam? Right. And I know that also nobody ever lies in church because you can’t. And so no matter where you where your devotions take you during the week, no matter what sort of meditations you’re going through in the morning and the evening, as often as you give to the Lord everyone and everything, that this when we gather on Sunday for a short period of time, it’s really a small amount of your total devotional life, and so it’s okay that we take a few reps in reading these passages together.

So in Jeremiah 31, we’re gonna read verses one through 22 just like we did last week, and then we’ll get into a quick review and then dive into some new territory this week. And so if you need to collect yourself with the breath like Jenny did a moment ago, let’s, take turns and read, and we’ve got a mic in the room, and let’s get into it. Jeremiah thirty one one. Here we go. At the same time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people.

Thus says the Lord, the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. Israel, when I went to give him rest, the Lord has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. Again, I will build you and you shall be rebuilt. O virgin of Israel, you shall again be adorned with your tambourines and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.

You shall yet plant Is this the right is this the right time? You’re doing so good. I feel like you should just take us on. Like, just keep going. Great.

You’re on a roll. And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria. The planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary food for there shall be a day when the watchmen cry out on Mount Ephraim. Arise and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.

For thus says the Lord, sing with gladness for Jacob and shout among the chief of the nations. Proclaim, give praise and say, oh Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child together. A great throng shall return there. They shall come with weeping and with supplications I will lead them.

I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way in which they shall not stumble. For I am the father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn. I can keep going but Yeah. I think you should like take us on because you’re doing so good. Okay.

Hear the word of the Lord, o nations, and declare it in the isles afar off and say, he who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and ransomed him with the hand of one stronger than he. Therefore, they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord. For the wheat and the new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd, their souls shall be like a well watered garden and they shall sorrow no more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance and the young men and the old together for I will turn their mourning to joy, will will comfort them and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.

I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness says the Lord. Thus says the Lord, a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more. Thus says the Lord, refrain from your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears for your work shall be rewarded says the Lord. And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

There is hope in your future, says the Lord, that your children shall come back to their own border. And I’ve surely heard a friend bemoaning himself, you have chastised me and I was chastised like an untrained bull. Restore me and I will return for you are the Lord my God. Surely after my turning, I repented and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated because I bore the reproach of my youth.

Is a frame my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still. Therefore, my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him, says the lord.

Set up signposts, make landmarks, set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, oh virgin of Israel. Turn back to these to these your cities. How long will you get about? Oh, you backsliding daughter.

For the Lord has created a new thing in in the earth. A woman shall encompass a man. Wow. Amazing. It was it was beautiful.

Question question for you, Ella. You don’t need the mic. Verse 22 says, how long will you what? Gad about? Gad about.

I don’t know. I feel like maybe we should bring that back. Stop gadding about? Yeah. Gadding about.

What are you doing? Just gadding about? A gad well, there’s a lot of gadding to be had. While you were reading that that passage, I I want us to talk about impressions overall of that passage and if anything stands out to you, but I’ll go first. Verse 21, set up road signs, set up guideposts, mark well the path by which you came.

Come back to me again, my virgin Israel. Return to your towns here. So there is a a future prophetic literal fulfillment of that verse of the return of Israel from the nations back to the land of Israel that we have seen in part. We’ve seen a great fulfilling of that since the establishment of the nation state of Israel in 1948. There it’s yes and there’ll be a continual fulfillment of that, but just my heart thrilled that not only will there be a geographical and geopolitical fulfillment of that return of Israel, but I saw a yes and future spiritual fulfillment.

Return to me, says the Lord. Come back home to my heart. And along the way, there will be signs and guideposts, and the path will be marked well. Could that not be us Christians pointing the way for Israel gagging about among the nations, return to the Lord. Or if you’ve any of you young adults here in I’m I’m thinking of a hyperlink to Matthew chapter 25, the parable of the 10 virgins.

At midnight, the cry arose. The bridegroom is coming. The 10 bride the 10 virgins woke up, trimmed their lamps, five were wise, five were foolish, but the five had their lamps ready to go to guide the bridegroom to the house of the bride and in for the wedding. Could not in some way to varying degrees each one of us as Christians use the light of Jesus in our hearts to shine as a guidepost for wayward Israel to come back home to their father? Give me a moment.

Any person. We’re talking about Israel here. Worship song that. Okay. Any other alright.

Let’s let’s do it. Any other, just general overarching impressions from this passage as we get into a quick review and then new territory today? But, this is so rich, and Ella read it so beautifully today. Joe. I think verse 19, I turned away from God, but then I was sorry.

I kicked myself for my stupidity. I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in our in my younger days. Alright, everybody, this is an all skate. Everybody point to the person in the room who most embodies this verse on the count of three. One, two, three.

Good answer. I love, I would say I love that you know me and I live my life as transparently as I possibly can. I’ve said this before, we’ll we’ll we’ll keep saying this, but Israel can be like a mirror for you. As we look into and study and learn about Israel, God’s dealings with Israel, their journey, can you not see your own journey in Israel? And would you want someone to hold you to the same standard that we tend to hold others in judgment to?

You know, like, how could they? You know, we all we all judge. But part of part of the purpose of the creation of Israel as a distinct people, which we’ll talk about that phrase in a moment, is to be like a mirror for you. In the New Testament, Paul says, all of these things happened and they were written down for your benefit. Meaning, all of the ways, the the the pitfalls that Israel fell into.

The gadding about that they have done. Can you not see yourself in them? Causing you to and then look at how God treats them. Causing you to, like Joe just pointed out, kick yourself. How could I be when your grace your grace was pouring out and your forgiveness and your kindness was so abundant towards me?

Ah, why did I wait so long to come running into your arms? And so be aware of that as we keep going in in this series, and I would invite you to read Jeremiah 31 verses one through 22 regularly. Read it more than just when we gather here on Sunday for the next couple of weeks. If you’re taking notes this morning, in the top of your notes, you can write the title of this week’s conversation, and it’s going it’s called Unbreakable Week two Distinct Among the Nations. There it is.

Unbreakable week two, distinct among the nations. And I use this word unbreakable, and it has multiple layered meanings. Primarily, it has to do with God’s unbreakable commitment towards the people and the land. But also the people themselves as much gadding about as they do, and we’re no different. The people distinct among the nations are quite remarkable in their ability by the grace of God to endure and survive and thrive even though they’re tiny people among all the nations of the earth.

So when you see that word unbreakable, I want you to think about God’s commitment towards Israel and the people themselves. Now let’s do a quick review. We talked about this last week. I put this question here in the notes, and maybe you’re thinking it yourself if you weren’t here last week or didn’t tune in to the livestream. Why are we talking about Israel again?

Don’t we always talk about Israel? Can we talk about something else? Well, I wanna share with you, we we spent more time talking about this last week. So if this week it feels as though that I’m like racing through, go back because we take a stroll through these things last week. You can go back.

We can, Connor, where can you get it? Spotify, YouTube, the website tribejh.com. Yeah. All those places. So you can go back and and catch all of that.

But why are we talking about Israel? Here are several reasons why we’re talking about Israel. Isaiah chapter 49 verse 16. God is speaking, and he says this, see, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always.

If you look up that word in the Hebrew, always in Hebrew means always. Perpetually, in perpetuity, never ending. In my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. Meaning that the people and geographically the land, what is it about that land and the land is always at the forefront of his mind. And to be fair for anybody who’s thinking it, God has quite a bit of available ram to hold a lot of things in his mind simultaneously.

Alright? But the verse says, Isaiah forty nine sixteen. Let’s look at another verse. We were in the same neighborhood a moment ago, Jeremiah 31 verses thirty five and thirty six. This is what the Lord says.

Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below explored, will I consider casting them off? So this is an ancient way of saying when pigs fly or when hell freezes over. God is saying, if you’re able to explore the entire universe and come back and tell me about it, if you explore the depths of all of the other realms in all of creation and come back and tell me about it. Well, then maybe I’ll think about forgetting about Israel. Israel is on the forefront of his mind and he will never consider casting them off.

So why do we talk about Israel? Because it’s big on God’s heart. Why do we talk about Israel? It’s one of the most significant topics discussed in the Bible. If we look at terms of in terms of frequency mentioned in the Bible.

We mentioned these last week. So if you’re like, woah, that’s crazy. But you don’t have time to write it down, maybe just take a picture of each one of these. Let’s look at this. Evangelism.

We’ve all heard a lot of series on evangelism. How many times does the Bible mention evangelism? We can see here that God mentions evangelism 250 times. That’s a lot. Now hold on.

We’re gonna rip through these. He talks about forgiveness 350 times. He talks about prayer 650 times. He talks about his glory 800 times. He talks about knowledge 1,100 times.

How about his one and only uniquely begotten son, Jesus, or the Messiah, or the coming savior, all of those together mentioned in the bible 1,400 times. Parenting, he knows we need a lot of help with that. Parenting is mentioned more often than Jesus. 1,600 times. Now by comparison, Israel is mentioned 3,500 times.

That’s more than five times the amount of the the theme or topic of prayer being mentioned. And just for a little additional context, that that jump between his his glory 800 times, and then we go into marriage 1,100 times. Most of those references are about himself marrying wayward Israel. And then when it talks about parenting 1,600 times, most of those references are God portraying himself as a father to gadding about Israel. So he talks about Israel a lot.

Last week, we mentioned this, and this is not up on the screen, but I talked about how how Israel is this generation’s fork in the road, and we can have correct biblical thinking about Israel, or we can not have correct or biblical thinking about Israel. There are pluses and minuses for each. So I talked about failure to have right thinking about Israel will result in either blatant or inadvertent antisemitism. And then I said this, I don’t know if there is a slide for this, unchecked antisemitism always leads to Haman’s gallows, the pogroms of Russia, or the gas chambers of Europe. Here’s what I mean by that without taking too much time to unpack that specifically because there’s a lot there.

We can even work on it. This is gonna be my definition of antisemitism as it rolls off of my tongue, but it is a broad generalization of an entire group of people casting them in a derogatory manner. Prejudice against an entire group of people. And the moment we start making broad brush strokes with groups of people in a derogatory or negative mirror, we are on a slippery slope. Two, let’s talk about antisemitism specifically.

If we can dehumanize them, then it’s easier to villainize them and if we can villainize them, we’re not too far away from demonizing them and as soon as we demonize them, then it becomes much easier to commit or say acts of violence against them. And where does that come from? Without I’m very uneducated in this, but once again, I’ll let the words come tumbling out of my mouth. Long ago, when we lived in close knit communities and extended families mostly for the purpose of survival, whether we were agricultural based or hunter gatherer based, we had to stick together for our survival. Like locals on a powder day at the village.

Like, it’s like there’s war out there. It’s chaos. And any perceived threat from another another group, a warring tribe, or a stranger, our first thought was that’s competition for resources for us and survival. They start out as an enemy, and then, oh, okay. They can be a friend or an ally.

And so there is deep down in our our brain stem, there is this instinct of survival that comes from being together in a community, and it helps us to survive if we are able to collectively determine who’s a good guy and who’s a bad guy. And if we can determine that a person or a group is a bad guy, that then enables our psyche to eliminate the threat. Are you with me so far? More or more or less. So in a similar way, if we collectively as a society hear or think unbiblical or uncorrect thoughts about Israel, it leads to either blatant antisemitism, racism, or inadvertent antisemitism.

An inadvertent antisemitism is just as dangerous because it can lead to blatant antisemitism, and antisemitism always, as I just said, leads to Haman’s gallows, the programs of Russia, or the gas chambers of Europe. Failure to have correct thinking about Israel creates distance between you and God’s heart. Failure to have correct thinking about Israel deepens your confusion about many other things. And then I said this, in many ways Israel is the Rosetta Stone for understanding God’s redemptive plan for the whole universe. Conversely, correct thinking or biblical thinking about Israel results in greater clarity and the purpose for the whole story arc of God’s plan for the universe.

Have you ever spent any amount of time in the major prophets or the minor prophets and be like, alright. I’m gonna dive in and study. If you don’t have the Rosetta Stone about God is all of those are for us, but they were written to Israel and God’s dealing with the people and nation of Israel. If you understand that, the major prophets and the minor prophets in the Bible, it makes so much more sense. So greater clarity in the purpose of the whole story arc of God’s plan for the universe, a deeper understanding of God’s great love and mercy and long suffering for you, Closer communion with the father and a refined faith because it’s gonna cost you something to stand on the Lord’s side regarding Israel.

Notice, I did not say stand with Israel. What I said was stand on god’s side to have his thoughts, to take his position on Israel. Now we’re about to get into some new territory here. Before I do, thoughts or questions? And if you’re say if you’re gonna raise your hand and say, well, who is Israel?

We’re gonna get there. We’re gonna get there. You just hold on. Thoughts? That was a little bit of fire hose drinking so that we could get to some new territory.

Joe and then Chris. You say like on the Lord’s side of Israel versus standing with Israel. Can you like differentiate? Oh, that Yeah. Okay.

Alright. So in the Bible, oh, I believe it’s Joshua, just comes back from a great battle, and he sees a lone warrior standing on the hilltop. And it’s the angel of the Lord, and Joshua comes up to him and says, are you for us or against us? I need to know. Do I embrace you as a friend and an ally, or do I pull my sword and it’s gonna pop off?

And then the angel of the Lord responds, neither. This is Brian Hunter paraphrase. Pastor Brian paraphrase. He says, I’m on the lord’s side. And then Joshua was like, okay.

And so to be on Israel’s side, I would say requires a little bit of naivety. Naivety. It it may include some superficial surface level emotional affections for Israel. In the same way that people turned their Facebook profile pictures blue and yellow when the war in Ukraine broke out. I stand with Ukraine.

I stand with Ukraine all over Facebook. Really? I mean, is literally the most corrupt Eastern European nation in the world, but yet you stand with them. Okay. I get what you’re I get what you’re saying with your Facebook photo that that, like, it is not good for a sovereign nation to be invaded by tanks and troops from Russia, and we all have a soft spot in our heart for the David and Goliath story.

We all see ourselves as David, and we all hate the Goliath. And so when we can portray David David as Ukraine, Goliath as Russia, it helps us to, like, I stand with Ukraine in a similar way. Little Israel is is little tiny Israel, and it’s the David versus the Goliaths of the world. Oh, I stand with Israel. I support Israel.

That’s nice. Great. I would like us to move to maturity where we stand on the lord’s side. We have his thoughts. We we take his position.

We can defend who Israel is biblically instead of just superficially and emotionally. There is and we’ll we’ll talk about this. I have identified three no. Four. Three.

I haven’t put it in my notes yet. Four levels of support for Israel, but but we gotta talk about that later. Does that help? I stand with Israel is is different than standing on the Lord’s side with Israel. Yeah.

I would say, yeah. Like, standing with Israel is like like the new believers way, and then like being on the Lord’s side with Israel is like when you do your research and you know what you’re talking about. Affection for Israel with wisdom and understanding. Chris Bates. I just was giving a thumbs up.

Oh, okay. Okay. Now, I’m gonna set a new skin track for us. Alright? Today, we’re going back to the beginnings, and we’re going to look at a the the formation of Israel.

So turn to Genesis 11. Yeah. But oh, yeah. Not there yet. Go back.

Yeah. Hi. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

Sorry. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

Sorry. Sorry. Yes. Stay there for a second. Okay.

So I won’t dwell long on this. This should this would be most appropriate to unpack and for us to explore together, maybe in the context of, like, coffee or maybe, like, a a bible study that we can do together, but I’ll just put this little burr under your saddle right here. If you subscribe to doctor Michael Heiser’s position on the divine council, there’s some additional backstory that you can explore to the table of nations and the creation of nations and their governance. For the purpose of the skin track that I’m putting in today, our journey will begin with Abraham’s father, Terah, in Genesis 11. So look at Genesis 11, and would somebody please read verse 27 through 32?

This reference is not on the screen. This is the genealogy of Terah. Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot, and Haran died before his father Terah in his native land in Ur of the Chaldeans. Keep going.

To 32? Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. I knew where we were starting, I just didn’t Then listen to where were Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai and the name of Nehor’s wife, Milkah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milkah and the father of Isha.

But Sarai was barren, she had no child. And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. And they came to Haran and dwelt there. So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years and Terah died in Haran. Alright.

I believe, this is not in the text, but I believe the call to become a distinct people actually began with Abram’s father, Terah. Terah is living in the country, the modern day country of Iraq, And the capital of Iraq is what? Baghdad. That’s right. Remember, there was a there was an outcast song about it.

Bombs over bagged okay. And Tara packs up his extended family and leaves the region. Now how many of you were born and raised in Jackson? And but look. Compared to the whole room, we all came from somewhere.

For so for us in our world today, it’s quite common to come from Ohio or Florida or New York or Oklahoma, and here we are. We find ourselves. Yay. And and in fact, it’s almost expected of this generation. You your mom and dad, pour their heart out loving you and raising you and then you abandon them and go off to school in San Diego and Phoenix and break your parents off.

Oops. Sorry. But in those days, you would have people living in the same region, in the same town for five plus generations. Why in the world did Terah? He got a good thing going in Babylon.

Why would he pack up and make a perilous journey? Hundreds and hundreds of miles to some new place. Insert PB’s commentary. I think that God whispered to Tara’s heart. Tara only made it to Peran.

Right? How far did Tara make it? He came to Haran. Haran. And then he’s like, ah, this is good.

This is good. So god says, okay, waits for the right time for his son, Abram, and then God speaks to Abram, and this is where we the the narrative in biblical history picks up. God speaks to Abram and says, come into a land that I will show you. Abram’s like, we have to read into the text, but emotionally, what was Abraham, Abram at that time thinking? Who is this guy?

Who is this God? The God of the universe. I can’t say God of Abraham because he’s not the God of Abraham yet, but his proper name is Yahweh. Yahweh, was he even known in the land of Babylon and Canaan? No.

Excuse me. Not Canaan. Babylon. I mean, no. We don’t have any records of him.

Now there are extra biblical records of like if you look at the epic of Gilgamesh, we hear Maraduke and some of these, like, there could be some traits that are similar to to Yahweh, but he’s not Yahweh to Abraham to Abram. So this unknown God speaks to Abram and says, pack up and come into this land that I’m going to show you. God, Yahweh, speaks to Abram. Abram says, okay. He packs up, enters the land of Canaan, which will someday be the land of Israel.

And in that place, God speaks to Abram, and we have his words recorded in Genesis chapter 12 verse three. While God is speaking to Abram, he says this, I will bless those who bless you and will curse those who treat you with contempt. All of the families on earth will be blessed through you. There it is. That verse is a big one.

Worthy of committing to memory. Now I don’t know if you follow current events or political stuff, but we all know that Tucker Carlson was a he had his own show on Fox News. He left Fox News. Then he started his own podcast, and he he has a lot to say. He a lot.

He talks a lot. In a recent episode of the Tucker Carlson podcast, he interviewed Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz is a Republican senator from the state of Texas. He is a conservative. He is widely and loudly outspoken about his support with Israel.

I stand with Israel. And Ted Cruz was invited on Tucker Carlson’s podcast, and boy, they got into it. How many of you have seen that clip? If you haven’t, I happen to have it here, and we’re going to watch it’s like what? Maybe two minutes long or less than a minute, Connor?

And we’re going to watch this because this verse is the verse that many Christians use rightfully as a scriptural foundational basis for blessing and loving and supporting Israel. But is this verse sufficient, adequate, enough? Because watch what Tucker Carlson does to old Ted Cruz. Let’s play that video, and then we’ll see if we can get the volume up. It’s a short clip.

Go up to 60. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Yeah.

Yeah. And I know that you’re clicking as fast as you can. The volume is just will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. And from my perspective, I wanna be on the blessing side of things. Of the who bless the government of Israel?

Those who bless Israel is what it says. It doesn’t say the government. Others says the nation of Israel. So that’s in the Bible. As a Christian, I believe that.

Where is that? I I can find it. I I don’t have the the the scripture off the tip of my you you pull out the phone and use it. It’s in John’s. So you’re quoting a a bible phrase.

You don’t have context for it, you don’t know where the bible it is, but that’s like your theology? I’m confused. What does that even mean? Tucker. I’m a Christian.

I wanna know what you’re talking about. K. Does my support for Israel come from? Number one, because biblically, we are commanded to support Israel. But number two Hold on.

I did not No. No. No. Hold on. On.

You’re a senator, and now you’re throwing out theology, and I am a Christian. I am allowed to weigh in on this. We are commanded as Christians to support the government of Israel. We are commanded to support Israel. And we’re told What does that mean, Israel?

We’re told those who bless Israel will be blessed. But what hold on. Define Israel. This is important. Are you kidding?

I this this is a majority Christian country. Define Israel? Could you do you not know what Israel is? I that would be the country you’ve asked like 49 questions about. So that’s what Genesis that’s what God is talking about.

The nation of Israel. Yes. And and he’s so is that the current borders, the current leadership? He’s talking about the political entity called Israel? He he’s talking about the nation of Israel.

Yeah. Nations exist and he’s discussing a nation. A nation was the people of Israel. He’s the nation. They’re the goddess of nation.

To in Genesis, is that the same as the country run by Benjamin Netanyahu right now? What’s your impressions on that interaction? Go ahead. I’m trying really hard. There’s a really great podcast called As We Grow that talks about not being divisive.

And I really try, like, so I I don’t wanna be divisive. My thought is, one, I don’t like, I get upset with those kinds of conversations. I don’t like the interruptions of each other not hearing people out. That makes me uncomfortable, just as who I am. Just let one person talk and then you talk and then have a conversation.

But I think that there’s a lot of biases that you can obviously see on both sides, but in that conversation, and an unwillingness to hear. And I will also say that I know that one of the things that people have said watching that clip or talking about Ted Cruz is that that verse is specifically talking about Abraham and not Israel because it says, if you bless if those who bless you so he’s talking to Abraham. But right before that, in verse two, it says, I will make you a great nation. So when he’s saying, I will bless you, and he just said before that, I will make you a great nation, I think that he is talking about the nation of Israel. So that’s just my trying really hard to be nice thoughts.

Great. Chris Bates. To me it seems so clearly to be a tactic of the enemy to use ambiguity to skew what Christians would consider Israel is. It just doesn’t seem like the spirit of that question is asked with sincerity. It seems like it’s more, like Gretchen says, inflammatory to get views, whatever it is.

Instead of saying like, okay, who is Israel? What’s the background of that? Where Ted Cruz may have not had an answer, but they could have at least explored it together. Sure. So one of the things that Tucker Carlson is doing is a a a great classical technique in speech and debate to throw your opponent off balance, allowing you to gain the upper hand by by these rapid fire definitive questions like like, what about this?

What about that? What do we have? Not allowing your I wouldn’t even say opponent. How about counterpart? To to respond as a technique to discredit them so that you can go ahead and present your position.

I would say that that in that regard, Tucker Carlson is doing a great job of throwing his opponent off balance. Number one. Number two, that same technique is frequently used by the enemy. I’m not saying Tucker Carlson is the enemy nor were you, but that technique is frequently used by the enemy. How about all the way back in the garden?

Did God really say that you can’t look or touch or even eat of the fruit surely you will die? Come on. Like like so it’s a classic technique to throw your counterpart off balance and he’s doing a great job of it. I think Tucker Carlson has an important question that all of us need an answer for. Yes.

And where I think things get really into the weeds is the I’m a Christian, I’m a Christian, you know, kind of debate back and forth. Well, like, if that’s our foundation, this is my hot take on this. If that’s our foundation, then, then we need to start with treating each other Christians. And the Bible says in John thirteen thirty five, they will know you’re Christians by your love for one another. And so there’s no love or respect on either side of that argument.

Everyone was just getting defensive and it is divisive. And the problem is that because of that little clip, people are all of a sudden charged to pick a side and then make sure that you’re letting everybody else know what the right side is. And now we are dividing each other. It’s it’s Christian against Christian. It’s, I’m right, you’re wrong, and you need to know that you’re wrong.

And we have completely derailed from well, they’ll know that we’re different because of our love for one another. There’s a way to have that conversation. There is an answer that needs to be had because people on both sides of the issue are gonna take that and use that as fuel for more division. But if we are approaching that in love, in wisdom, like you’re talking about the difference between I stand with Israel and I stand with God’s view of Israel, then it the whole discussion goes a completely different way. But there’s so much in there that we just, like, have to, like, dismiss one side or the other or not even think it’s just more about the division.

I just feel like that is a huge tactic of the enemy right now, and it’s hurting us Mhmm. To be so divided against brother against brother and sister against sister. Like, it’s just it’s been burning on my heart because it’s so divisive and so painful to the church. And we’re just we’re being used there’s two Christians up there who are getting millions of views, and they’re being used for the enemy. It’s dividing us.

That’s not God. That’s not the spirit of Fruit of the Spirit. Yes. Yeah. Jacob.

I just want to give some encouragement, I guess, to the Christians. Like, we see those conversations, and we see those arguments, and we think, oh, well, we just lost that argument. You know, we think He did. No. That was mic drop.

He lost though. He didn’t lose the argument. Ted lost that argument. See, and that’s and that’s He lost it. And see, and that’s the problem is we see that and we think we’ve lost it.

But remember, God is bigger than this argument. God knows the truth. And he can defend himself. Remember that. We don’t have to defend God.

God is bigger than us in our arguments. So what Ted Cruz said was exactly what he needed to say in that conversation. The world can look at it all they want and say that he lost that argument or this was the truth in that conversation and this person was right. Remember, God defends himself. God can stand up for truth.

God knows truth. He can change hearts. He can change minds. That conversation was irrelevant in the grand scheme of God’s plan. So I guess I use that as an encouragement to Christians.

You don’t have to say all these things that sound great in these debates or in these conversations. You don’t have to always have the right words to say. God will use you in the place that you have, and in the words that you have, and in the knowledge that you have. It doesn’t matter. So don’t think that you have to be this great speaker to speak up for God.

You can just say, no. God’s word says this. I don’t have to defend God’s word. God can defend his own word. Hey, I like that.

I like that. Sorry, have one more thing. This might be jumping ahead a little bit, but I will say that I think the question of who is Israel, like, does it mean the nation of Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu? Which I can’t ever say his name, so just The Lord knows who you’re talking about. I think that reveals, in my opinion, it reveals a limiting view of the Lord and the Bible.

Because if we believe that the Lord is all knowing outside of time and space, and that the Bible is like a con what’s the word I’m looking for? A unified story. Continual though. It’s like it’s yes, always living. Thank you.

It’s a living document. That’s It’s not like you’re reading a history book that the information is only for that time and that place. It’s as relevant and true now as it was when it was put to paper, then God knew what the nation of Israel would be today. He knew that it would be exactly this. Do you know what I mean?

So it’s like, I think, like to say it can’t be that that Israel because it’s not the same borders and it’s not the same bloodline or like whatever. Then that’s saying that then God didn’t know. And that’s a very limiting perspective of the power of the Lord and the power of the word. Yes. Good and valuable, and Jacob and Kat, you both disagreed with each other, and I would suggest to you that I think you both can be right.

From a speech and debate perspective, that little clip that we saw, Tucker Carlson had Ted Cruz up against the ropes and was eviscerating him. And you’re right, Jacob, that, like, God God can use Ted, and I guarantee you Ted went back and committed that verse to the location, its address to memory. That was the last time that anybody ever was like, where’s that verse, Ted, without him be In Genesis twelve thirty. Yes. Exactly.

So my hope as the core as we continue through this discussion for these next couple of weeks is that we will be able to provide not a more articulate and more intellectual and and precise and irrefutable definition of what Israel is, but we will have more peace and confidence than than the answer that was given here. And probably, you’ll have to be asked by somebody 10 different times, well, who is Israel? And have you fumble through your words best you can that as Jacob just encouraged us with, the Lord will use that and the Lord knows your heart and he will accomplish his will. But I want us to look at at at this verse, the last few minutes that that we have here. When that when we see that verse, who is the you?

Who is the you in that verse? Was God speaking about just Abraham or all of Israel or all of Israel as Abraham’s descendants? Gretchen teed up that conversation with us by by saying, well, look at verse two because I’ll make you, Abraham, a great nation, Israel. And then he goes on to address Abram as you. But I want to show you in just a few other passages that God is speaking about more than just Abraham.

Because when you engage in conversation with somebody and they ask you, well, who even is Israel? If you start with that verse, they will say, you, well, that’s just to Abraham. Well, let’s let the bible define itself and look in just a few other passages that will help us to see that God is speaking about more than just Abraham. He’s speaking about the nation that will come from him. So we have Genesis 12 verse seven, and you can you can go there, but I would encourage you just write these verses down.

God is saying, I’m gonna give this land to you, Abram, and your descendants. That’s Genesis twelve seven. Genesis thirteen fifteen through 16, God is speaking again to you and your descendants. When God says, I will bless those who bless you Abram. He’s speaking about Abram and look at his life, the people that came against him and the people that helped him.

But it’s broader than just Abraham. It’s his offspring. And I know that in many of your minds, you may be trying to say, you you may be trying to put a pin in, is that Israel? We’re gonna get there. We’re gonna get there.

But this is one piece or ingredient. So one of Jacob’s favorite phrases is, yes, and. And then look in Numbers chapter 24 verse nine. So there was a pagan nation that hired a man of God to curse Israel. Pays him a large sum of money.

God’s like, don’t do it. Don’t do it. Even his donkey was like, dude, don’t do it and spoke to him. When your donkey’s talking to you. When your donkey’s talking to you, and then three times, Balaam goes on a a a high hill to to curse Israel, and he can’t do it.

And he ends up speaking an incredible, powerful blessing over the nation of Israel that sends reverberating echoes that are still resounding today. And one of the things that he says in Numbers chapter 24 verse nine, Balaam looked over the camp of Israelite. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Of the Israelites that God promised in Genesis, and then he reiterates the blessing. Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you. And this is spoken over an an entire camp. Imagine if you were on standing on top of High School Butte or Snow King Mountain over here, and you were looking out over Jackson, and you speak a blessing over Jackson. It includes all of its residents.

I speak a blessing over you, Jackson. Well, is that just one person, Jackson? I mean, maybe there’s probably a lot of people that live here named Jackson, but it’s for more than just anybody or one specific person in Jackson. It’s for all. And so really quickly, the you in that verse is for Abraham and his descendants.

And as we continue on, Abraham fathers Isaac, Isaac fathers Jacob, God turns Jacob’s name into Israel. Does anybody know what the name Israel means? Yes. One who struggles with God. That’s what Israel means.

Wait a minute. I thought they were blessed by God. I thought Israel was God’s firstborn. I thought Israel loved God and God loved Israel. Why is the literal name one who struggles with God?

The answer is yes. It is a vibrant, tumultuous, engaging, interactive, sometimes messy relationship. God did not pull out a distinct people to make them automatons. Yes. We love Yahweh.

We follow Yahweh, and we are perfect. I mean, they’re gadding about. I mean, that kinda says it all. One who struggles with God, a name given to Jacob and then carried by his descendants as a reminder that covenant life is marked by engagement, not entitlement alone. Israel has 12 sons, the tribes of Israel, and a nation is born.

No sooner than the nation is born than an enemy arises to oppose Israel. And I think that’s as far as we should go for today. So let’s land the plane let’s land the plane with this. Genesis twelve two and three are really important verses when it comes to God’s perspective on Israel. I will bless you if you bless Israel.

Wow. How do we bless Israel? What does that look like? You got how does God bless Israel? Let it come tumbling now.

We are Israel. I’m Israel. Troy’s Israel. You’re Israel. Like, I just found out the other day that my cousin did the 21 and me or whatever, and I have a large part of Israel blood in my sentence.

Uh-huh. And so anyways. Anyways. I might be a Jew. Anyways, but like so does does that make me, like, Jewish?

I think it’s cool. I think it’s awesome that I would have lineage back in Jerusalem or in Israel somewhere. But just like Genesis says, I will bless through you, will bless many this your descendants. And I’m part of that descendants. Like, we all came from Adam.

We all came from Abraham. I mean, they’re like like when God did the whole reset with with Noah. Mhmm. Like, there had to be people that came from his chosen. And so I think that we need to stop putting labels and putting people into boxes and saying that we’re all God’s chosen ones.

And so regardless if if I technically come from Mexico to Mexican descent, but I was born and raised here in The United States. Do I consider myself Mexican? No. I considered myself as an American first with Mexican descent. But still I’m not gonna put a label on myself and say regardless like in like the whole controversial what ICE is doing taking innocent lives.

Like, I I’m I’m in support of ICE. Like, they can come in and take those Well, there we go. That was Those who those who have broken the rules and the laws of getting here, they can do I’m I’m in support of them. I’m not gonna whatever. So anyways, like but when it all comes down to it, we’re all God’s children.

And so if if if that means I’m gonna call myself Israel because I am one who struggles with God in my daily life. I struggle. That. Let’s go. So and we all struggle with our relationship with God on a daily basis.

So, sure, I’ll call myself Israel. And so am am I in support of Israel? I’m in support of every single person because God said his second greatest commandment was love your neighbor as yourself. And so regardless of where you’re from, who you are, that’s what we’re called to do is to love them. So it’s if it’s a nation, if it’s if it’s even if it’s a not so great nation, like, in the Middle East that’s doing bad things, that’s trying to kill other people.

That’s wrong, but still gotta pray for them and that they would have their eyes open to what they’re doing is wrong. Yeah. And so and they’re struggling right there because they’re following the wrong god. And so I think the important thing is is that we take ourselves out of our little bubble that we’re in and look at the big picture. Look at look at it through God’s eyes because he loves every single one of us regardless of where we live and where we came from and who our parents are and all that jazz.

So I don’t know. That’s just my thoughts. Great. May I add something? There was a philosopher that wrote a song back in the nineties that I think iterates that well for God.

I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, what you did, as long as you love me. Backstreet Boys. I really can’t follow that. Nor should I try. Jesus, we love you.

Help us. Help us. Help us. Help us. Help us develop your thoughts about Israel.

Lord, help us to define Israel, how you define Israel, and only to the extent that you want us to define Israel. Lord, we help us to see ourselves in Israel, not as, meaning in place of Israel, but help us to see ourselves as Israel. Because I’ve done plenty of wrestling with you. I’ve only got two hips, but if I had more, you would have popped all of them out. Help us.

In Jesus’ name, amen. It’s a bit of an abrupt transition, but I’ll invite Connor, there he is, to to come up, share a few with the few offering announcements with us, a couple of happy tidings, and then let’s get out of here so we can inflict the same on the 11AM service. Anytime we talk about these things, it’s such a good reminder of the whole goal, right, is to have the heart that God has, and for us to get to know him deeper. And as we get into offering and the tithe, it just I’m always reminded that obedience is such a standard way to do that, to get closer to him. And as we continue to submit to the things that he’s called us to submit to, That we get to hear from him on these things as well.

That it’s not just about As Brian opened the day with, it’s not just about what we hear on Sundays, but what we hear day in, out as we spend time in our word, as we spend time praying, as we spend time trying to hear from him. And obedience helps us so much with coming under that and being able to be in tune with what he’s trying to say. Now, why don’t you guys bow your heads with me as we pray over the tithe and the offering today? Father God, we just want more of your heart, God. We wanna think your thoughts.

We wanna walk in your footsteps, God. We wanna follow you every step of the way that you’ve laid out for us, God. So we just pray that as we submit ourselves to you, God, and that as we lay down our finances at your feet, that you just show us more of you, God. That as we give you more of ourselves, that you give us more of you in return, God. You say in your word that those who abide with you, you abide within them, God.

So we just lay all that we have down at your feet. We pray this all in Jesus’ name. Everybody said, amen. All the important announcements are up on the fridge. I personally will plug the young adults crew that we have that meets here on Tuesday nights.

If you wanna serve that crew that is just growing like crazy, we’ve been packing this room out every Tuesday night this this year, which has been awesome. If you wanna serve that crew, we could always use a meal. That’s one of the big things that pulls in a ton of hungry, starving ski bums is free food. And then just a couple praise things. We have had three since the last time we talked about this.

Babies born into our tribe fam. If you wanna throw the first one up, starting with new baby Bates. Amazing. And then we got Caleb and Susan as well. And then most recently, Jay and Nina have had theirs as well.

All are happy and healthy. Praise God. It’s so cute. Love it. Brian, you’re gonna come on for us up?

Yeah. I was under a very strict no kiss the baby for the new coming family. I mean, I guess I get it. I get it. But come on.

Look, do you see those cheeks? Stand up. Let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, we love you. Thank you for your great patience with us as we contend and wrestle and strive with you.

Thank you for being so good to us. Lord, we play we pray a blessing over Israel as you define it, Lord. And we ask according to scripture for the peace of Jerusalem. And God, I pray a blessing over each and every person here and gathered on the livestream this morning. Will you bless them?

Give us a great week. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you so very much. Thank you.

Have a great week. Remember, you got this.