Surrounded by Vandals

Can we give the lord praise in here? Yes, lord. You are so good. You are so good. There’s going to be a lot of cheering today for a lot of silly sports.

If we can’t erupt in applause for what the lord Jesus has done for us, then something wrong. Something wrong. It’s yeah. I was gonna go on a whole Super Bowl worship. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Fill up your coffee. If we can if there’s any empty seats, we’ll scooch in and maybe we can full pull a few VIP seats up here in the front. Might have to just stay right where we are. Good morning. Good morning.

Could have been me. The highest possible. Good morning. Alright. Too hot?

What are doing? I don’t I don’t know. Is that me? I’m trying not to move. Freeze.

I have it in my front pocket so I don’t twist it up in my back pocket. Okay. You’re You’re good. Alright. Alright.

How’s everybody doing this morning? Great. So interesting to every week, you know, I sit here every week. There’s subtle changes in who’s here. For the for the most part, it’s our our crew of regular 9AM tribe fam here with a a few people here and there sprinkled in visiting from Florida, but they’re at church on a Sunday morning, so good job for you.

But each and every week, even though more or less, it’s it’s the the same crew. Every week, there’s a different vibe. And as a as a as a pastor and as a leadership team, it would be great it would be great if it was, like, a consistent vibe so that I could know what to plan for. It would be too easy for me. And I gotta say, I like the vibe this morning, guys.

Hey. You’re you’re doing I don’t know what it is. It’s the holy spirit, but, I mean, he was here last week too. Caleb is back. Maybe that that’s it.

K Caleb’s got his family some of his family here with him this morning. And soon, one of these days, one of these days, he gonna bring that baby in here. Bring that baby. Our grandbaby. Right, Susan?

Who’s watching the livestream? Bring our baby. Bring our baby to church. But I love I love what the holy spirit is doing in here. Hold on just a second.

Get some air going. Get some air going. You really whipped us into a frenzy this morning. Okay. As we dive into the conversation this week, if you haven’t tuned in for a while or if you’ve been with us every week of this journey so far, we are in a series of conversation that I’m calling Unbreakable, and this series of conversations is about God’s unbreakable commitment to a distinct people and their unbreakable resilience.

So we’re talking about Israel for several weeks, and we are talking about how we’re talking about how talking about Israel actually deeply impacts each and every one of us. Not because Israel per se is so influential that Israel impacts you, but I’ve been saying this conversationally with folks, but part of my great affection for Israel comes from seeing myself in Israel. Not in place of, not superseding, not over, not above, but when I see Israel, and like who is Israel? When I see Israel, I see my I see my pre saved self. For how many of you who know and love and follow Jesus, if you had a chance to jump in a time machine and go back and visit your pre saved self, whether that was in high school or college or or whenever that was, or maybe you are five years old.

Would you not encourage your pre self your pre saved self? Would you not try to nudge them along? Would you not try to, like like, woo them, encourage them? Because think about your life before you got saved compared to after you got saved. Before you got saved, no matter how much you try to talk yourself into, you didn’t have any real hope.

You didn’t have any real You had a destiny, but it was unknown to you. You did not have peace. You did not have belonging. You knew that there was something else out there, and you tried to fill your life with so many other things. Would you and and is your life, although it could be more challenging and more difficult post getting saved, I don’t wanna put rose colored glasses on and say, when you get saved, everything’s better.

Like, the the the fit really hits the shin sometimes after you get saved because following his leadership is not easy, but it is always fulfilling and rewarding and the right thing to do. And so would you not be kind and gracious and like like do everything you can to get your pre saved self as you are bouncing around in Japan to or or farting around at the University of Florida trying all the things, would you not try to like, come on bud. Yes. So in a similar way, that’s kind of how I think and see Israel. So perhaps maybe you could see yourself as Israel.

That’s one way that it directly impacts you, but when also as we learn about and read and see what God thinks about Israel, it helps us to learn about the nature and character of God. The way that he treats Israel is the way that he treats us. Long suffering, patient, committed, determined, uncompromising and will chastise and will discipline and will answer and will come to the rescue. And so I’ve had some people say like, alright, why are we talking about Israel again? And like, what does that have to do with me?

I just live here in Jackson, Wyoming and I’m here for the season or I’m trying to like scratch out a living here. I would invite you to widen your aperture so that at a bare minimum, people let’s be honest, we’re pretty solipsistic, meaning we like to think that we are the center of the universe. And how dare that preacher preach about something that doesn’t directly impact me or help me in my situation, help me in my in me, me, my, my, oh, careful, careful, watch it. But to give you just a little Scooby snack, if you have to, if you have to make it about you, can you not see Israel? Can you not see yourself in Israel’s story and journey?

So this so this is the conversation that we’re having. And by way of quick review, on week one, we laid the foundation for why we’re talking about Israel and how this topic connects with each and every one of us in our life. Week two, we talked about a distinct people And that from all the peoples of the earth, God singles out one man to reveal his covenant to and claim as his own special possession. And it’s a little bit of a trick question, but you did great last week. So who did God reveal himself to and invite to become a distinct people?

Terah, Abram’s father. But Terah, he kinda made it part way, then I was like, I think I’m gonna hang out here. God speaks to his son and invites him into a land that he had not previously known, and that man’s name was Abram, later to be called Abraham. You’re exactly right. So we talked about week two, a distinct people.

And then on week three last week, we tackled a big question. Who is Israel? And I feel like we could have spent several more weeks just on that alone, but for the sake of trying to construct and sculpt and and put together a holistic picture of what I feel like God wants us to accomplish, we have to keep moving. But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t mean that we can’t, you and I, have conversations about this. Each and every week, I put up this slide with my phone number on it and I say, send me a text.

Give me a call. Text me. We’ll talk. We’ll have coffee. We’ll talk.

We’ll talk through these things. I want to I want to hear your questions. I want to hear your objections because here’s the worst thing, the worst possible thing that could happen. Even among us, as like minded, as community knitted we are, if we stop talking, then it’s a lot easier for anonymity, it’s a lot easier for animosity, it’s a lot easier for there to be divergence of all that we do have in common, and my pastor’s heart doesn’t want that. I want us to be together.

I’m not looking for conformity, but I am deeply passionate about unity. You can write that down and untangle untangle that, at your leisure. But we came up with a definition of who is Israel. And we said this last week, I think it’s up here on the screen. Israel is a covenant people elected by God, historically embodied by Abraham’s descendants, and sustained by covenantal faithfulness.

Now there is room for the modern day nation state of Israel in that definition, but it’s not in that definition. There is room for this current administration, but it’s not confined or limited to the current administration. There is something interesting where people try to narrowly define Israel for the purpose of erecting a straw man and then feeling justified in committing ad hominem attacks against. If I can get confined, restrained, define Israel along this narrow path or border, and in that definition would include very obvious and deep and serious flaws, failures, corruptions, kind of sounding like each and every one of your, including my, human heart. But if we can narrowly define Israel, then it becomes easier to commit ad hominem attacks or discount or disparage.

And the moment that that happens, we’ve talked about this several weeks and I want to warn you with my dad voice, You must maintain vigilance to guard your heart against the tiniest little mustard seed of antisemitism creeping in. It if any of you have ever had a garden or you’ve tried to plant grass on my like like, you’re like, I gotta get this grass to grow. The grass that we want to grow is the hardest to come up and what ‘s the first thing that usually sprouts up and takes its place? The weeds. Oh.

Antisemitism is like a weed seed. It only needs the tiniest amount of fertile soil. Thistles and thorns grow up which is a part of the curse. And if you are a visual person, I’ve this is now my my kind of well, it’s actually like my fifth rendition, but only the second version that I’ve shown to try to visually represent who is Israel. I tend to think in Venn diagrams and what I like about a Venn diagram is it’s a visual way of not only representing information, but also shows connections and relationships among the variety of elements.

This is slightly different than last week’s and I like it a little bit better. I don’t have last week’s up. You can if you took a picture of it, can go back and look at that picture but I still am not like like super super psyched on this but it and who knows? I might have a different one next week that could be slightly more improved. But what we talked about last week in identifying who is Israel, we looked at three main components of what makes up a what makes up a Jew or who is Israel.

One significant element or component is sovereign election. And we talked about how God of all of the nations of the people, he just goes, you. And picks one man to build an an entire nation out of. His sovereign pick. And in fact, the Bible has a lot to say about how that he wasn’t he wasn’t the most handsome.

He wasn’t the most outstanding. He didn’t have the most potential. He he and his wife, they were not the most fertile couple. In fact, they were the opposite and they couldn’t have a baby. Sovereign election makes up a significant component.

God gonna pick who God gonna pick. And if you dare say, well, that’s not Israel and that that you better pump the brakes because what you are doing, what you’re in danger of doing, I’m not accusing you of this, what you’re in danger of doing is is is potentially defying God’s sovereign election. Okay. The other component is genealogical descent, bloodline. That is that is a significant component but it is not the only component.

There are people who are of the bloodline of the 12 tribes of Jacob whose name was changed to Israel that if you look closely at scripture, God would say that is Israel and there are people of the bloodline genealogical descent that God would say that’s not Israel. So so if we go by bloodline alone if we go by bloodline alone, we’ve missed a holistic picture of who Israel is. Covenant faithfulness. This is where covenant faithfulness, this is where I would put today’s observant Jewish community, whether it’s here in our town or all across the world. Covenant faithfulness, they are to the best of their human ability trying to have right relationship with God based upon a covenant that Jesus came to fulfill not only for himself, but all of humankind, which is why he says, you have heard it said.

No. No. No. No. But I tell you.

And then remember at communion at the last supper, Jesus says, a new covenant I make with you. So an observant Jew would fit in here. But is it just covenant faithfulness, old covenant faithfulness that makes a Jew? Ah, can you see here why it’s important, at least in my mind, while I why I think it’s important to consider a definition of Israel based on overlapping circles of connection. And in the middle, we would have what would be what the bible would consider my what I understand the bible says as the remnant.

So they have been sovereignly elected by God. They have genealogical descent, bloodline. There is an expression of covenantal faithfulness to the best that they know it, and there is a remnant. And then then you have Christians in there as well. Yeah.

Go ahead. Ask that question again. Just say two seconds on what is the remnant, because that might be a new We might only have heard it as like carpet remnants. When you go and you don’t wanna pay for a rug. Yeah.

The remnant. The remnant, well well, based upon what you see visually, we should be able to take a pretty good swing at what is the remnant. The remnant is made up of genealogical descent, sovereign election, and covenantal faithfulness. And in what? Google it.

Adam and I talked about him asking me a question earlier and I’m ready for him to ask me that question. Was not prepared for that. It’s not a curveball, but but Google it. So so the bible talks about the remnant. It’s also mentioned as the Israel of God.

That is a phrase. Those two phrases are used. I believe remnant comes from the book of Revelation, and we have whether I don’t I haven’t been looking at the comments. That would be too hard on my ego. But Connor, who maintains our livestream and keeps all of our podcast updated and so has said the last couple of weeks have had a a spike in interest with was it last week’s episode Connor that had last week or so, like normally, we’re really we’re really like crushing the stats with like 30 or 40 views throughout the week.

Praise the lord. But I think last week’s or week previous had over a 125 views and so like like this is generating some interest. I don’t know if it’s positive or negative. I’d rather not know because I won’t stand before any of them or y’all just the Lord. But and so probably somebody watching the livestream is like sending me specific addresses even right now, but the Bible mentions remnant.

I believe that’s in the book of Revelation. He also talks about the Israel of God as if the Israel of God is a unique distinct subset within a larger. Well, is that not represented here? So my answer is Google it. Sure.

And then, Adam, ask your question because it’s a great question. So I was just thinking about Israel, and, you know, mainly the Old Testament has a lot about Israel in it, and I was looking in the New Testament. And I just happened to fall into Romans, and it’s saying that Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. K. So so while you’re reading that, I could glance at my text and people are texting me.

Okay. Remnant are Jews that will receive the Lord. So why couldn’t you instead of asking me a tricky question Yeah. She’s just saying, you have been like, who is this? You can’t not everybody can be on Lissa’s side all the time.

I need some men to back me up and help me out. Jacob’s like, you’re on your own buddy. Thanks. Thanks a lot. I’m glad I’m glad that at least Caleb is here.

Great. Now even Caleb the remnant. Old old covenant Jews. And I said this at the beginning of last week’s conversation, and I feel like we’ve already gotten deep into the territory where I should say it one more time. For any Jews that could be sent this podcast or watched the livestream last week and or this week, My intention in the conversation is to I do not intend to offend or to be disrespectful to you, to your tradition, to your faith, to your covenant, to the Lord.

However, the bible is super clear. You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. That’s my prayer. Even if it means stepping on your toes and ruffling your feathers a little bit. Love you.

The remnant. Old old covenant religiously observing Jews who one day go, oh my gosh. The messiah that I read about in the Old Testament already has one stamp on his passport, and it is Jesus of Nazareth. There is an Old Testament verse that says, someday, they will look upon the one whom they have pierced, and they will weep. They will realize that their messiah has already come once and died for them two thousand years ago, but will receive them grafted back into the family coming into right relationship with God still through blood, but not the blood of bulls and goats, but the precious blood of Jesus.

Remnant. And that’s where we are because the Bible in the New Testament is super clear. There’s no name under heaven and earth under which men may be may call upon and be saved except for Jesus. We have experienced the sign of the covenant. What’s the sign of the old covenant?

Circumcision. Come on. What about Christians? Do Christians get circumcised? Yes.

As a sign of the covenant, do Christians get circumcised? Yes. Oh. Their heart. They experience circumcision of their heart.

Circumcision? Circumcision? Circumcision? Circumcision? Alright.

Now, lobbier lobbier question. Alright. So Romans 11, when it refers to the branches that were broken off. Is it Romans 11? It is.

Okay. Okay. Well, I guess, are those branches that were broken off in terms of on this Venn diagram. Being a good teacher of the Socratic method, I would put that question back on you. Where would you place so let’s find let’s find that verse.

Let’s find that verse and and read it. I know that we’re still in the a little bit of the review, but I believe that this is extremely nutritious for us to to to go through this. So, where is that? Romans eleven eleven. Okay.

Maybe a few verses preceding and after that. Here we go. 11. Now we’re down into 17. Hand that mic off and let’s read a few verses around there, and let’s see how and where it could fit.

It it will either fit or I need to turn my cat around so that it conforms to the word of God and continue to modify my Venn diagram. I don’t take the word of God and make it fit my Venn diagram. I change my diagram to fit the word of God. Read around there. Well, what I was And now we’re gonna I was going to say is chapter 11, my the way it’s labeled is the remnant of Israel, and then in verse 11, Gentiles grafted in.

And then starting at 25, the mysteries of Israel’s salvation. Woah. About that. You should probably spend some time in there. Romans 11 verse 11.

Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not. They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of God turned down God’s offer of salvation, think of how much greater the blessing the world will share if they finally accept it.

Everywhere the gospel of Jesus goes, civilizations and societies flourish. We’re not without hiccups and bumps and but that’s a part of human nature. Now let me just go ahead and and address this head on. Consider and look at the alternative competing religion against the religion of Yahweh, Islam. Give me one civilization, society, culture, country, or region that has flourished under Islam?

Where have women’s rights been advanced? Where has where has free speech and freedom of expression advanced under Islam. You will not find it. Alright. That was a side sermon.

Verse 17. But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree, some of the people of Israel have have been broken off, and you Gentiles who were branches from a wild olive tree have been grafted in. So now you receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children sharing in the rich nourishments from the root of God’s special olive tree. But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.

Well, you may say, those branches were broken off to make room for you. Yes. But remember, those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Jesus, and you are there because you did believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t spare you either.

Alright. So let’s the the branches that have been broken off that will, according to prophecy, will be grafted back in. The branches that have been broken off here’s Adam’s questions. Where are they now? Help this is a really open ended question.

We’re doing this together. What would you think? We need a new circle. Uh-huh. Get everything.

That’s what I’m thinking. Jacob. Well, if you go further down in ’24, it talks about contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree. How much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree? Verse 23.

Here we go. I’ll start in verse 22. Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe towards those who disobey, but he is kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. Oh, okay.

Withhold withhold commentary on that. I’m in I’m finishing verse 22. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. Once saved, always saved. That’ll really twist you up in the theological pretzel.

Verse 23, and if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. But you, by nature, were a branch cut from the wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree. What’s that last part? Where they belong.

Here’s what Caleb just suggested. What if the branches that have been broken off are out here? I like that. You can have genealogical descent, but not walk in covenantal faithfulness. You can have genealogical descent, but just because of God’s sovereign election, election, you don’t fit in here.

But I like to always turn the corner of hope and redemption and promise and God’s goodness and think about here. Our brief discussion on broken off branches that may satisfy your question and help, it could also produce a little bit more like, but if you have questions, text me. We’ll talk. Joy, and then we’re going to get into some new territory. So I’ve been thinking a lot about, like, why is this conversation important?

And I think that one of the things that’s important to remember is that there is a war right now on getting you to on how you define what a Jew is or what a Jew isn’t. And the problem is that the war right now that we are just getting a deluge of information is is towards and this is just kinda recapping what Brian’s been saying. But if we think, like, in World War two, it was a war to dehumanize the Jew so that then anti Semitism and then those kind of crimes could be justified. And so I see it as this tension between, are we going to dehumanize them, or are we going to humanize them? And so regardless of what you believe and if you agree or disagree with any of the conversations that we’re having right now, I think that pastor Brian is constantly pulling us towards humanizing and remembering, guys, these are humans that we’re talking about.

These are people who are important. And regardless of if you believe on on the little details of the definition, there are a bunch of other people who are trying to pull you away from humanizing them so that they can justify all the stuff that’s happening right now. And so our our responsibility when we’re bringing all of this in, I think, is to to bring it through a filter of love, of God’s love, and say, am I taking this definition and acting on it? And is it bringing about God’s love, or is it bringing about dehumanizing, which leads to all other things? In hold on.

Oh, my voice is shaky. That’s not normal. In first Corinthians thirteen six, the the the love chapter, it says love does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. And if we are getting pulled towards a definition that rejoices in injustice, we’ve gotten off a off track with God’s love. And so I think that these conversations are so important because it’s constantly pulling us back to humanizing and and walking in God’s ultimate love towards the Jews.

And regardless of if they’re, you know, following the covenant or whatever, there’s, as pastor Brian says often, there’s Jews living here in Jackson who are constantly facing fear of being dehumanized and then becoming targets of hate crimes. And we have to actively resist falling into that temptation, and instead focus on these are humans that God loves, and whatever I act out should not be rejoicing about injustices against any human. Against any human committed anywhere. Yes. Yes.

That’s that’s really good perspect additional perspective, Joy. Let me give you a couple of addresses to write down, and you can go to this address later. Romans eleven five, which says, so too at this present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. Will you go back to the Venn diagram? Remnant, Zephaniah three verse twelve and thirteen, but I will leave within you the meek and humble.

The remnant of Israel will trust in the name of the Lord. I like I like that face, Phil. Like, okay. Write those addresses down. Yes.

Zephaniah three twelve and seventeen. Excuse me. Twelve and thirteen. Zephaniah three seventeen is a beautiful passage about when Israel receives the embrace of their messiah, or would exalt over you, calm all of your fears with singing, like when your baby falls down and scrapes their knee and comes running into your arms and you scoop them up. There.

There. There. It’s okay. Get back teen spray. Get a little Band Aid.

Israel’s gonna yet suffer someday a catastrophic knee scrape. So in my notes, I said, let’s warm up with a couple verses. We’re we’re deep into this, but let’s let’s yet once again look at two different passages that reveal God’s heart for Israel so that we can try to stay on time. Write this address down. Look at it on the screen.

Deuteronomy seven verse seven and eight. The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations for you were the smallest of nations. Rather, it was simply that the lord, what does this say on the screen, loves you, and he was keeping the oath he swore to your ancestors. This and all that we have said does not mean that one must I don’t like this phrase but I hear it a lot. Support Israel.

The moment anyone tries to control the narrative with broad generalization statements. You should be wary. Carte blanche. So does that mean we should carte blanche support Israel? That should send off bells in your head immediately.

Uh-oh. There’s there’s an agenda there. I wanna slow down and go more carefully. But here’s what God thinks. Carte blanche means a white piece of paper, like like like full unilateral, like everything they say and do, like no matter what, is is I I have to blindly stand within support.

We said this months ago, you know that you can support Israel and be critical of some of their actions. One more verse, Isaiah 43. I love this. And you spoke from Isaiah 43 in worship this morning. And, Joy, just you wait because I’m gonna tie in what you said a moment ago with where we’re going in the conversation today.

Isaiah forty three one. Just memorize this verse. It’s probably the single greatest pill to inoculate yourself, to protect yourself from antisemitism. But now, oh Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. Oh, Israel, the one who formed you says, do not be afraid for I have ransomed you.

I have called you by name and you are mine. Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you. Could this verse be said about us?

Sure. The original context and intent is about who? Israel. Well, who’s Israel? Watch that loop.

Be careful of that loop. Go back to the Venn diagram. So what Joy said, tease up where we’re going that I’m already telling we’re gonna have to drastically abbreviate it with today’s conversation. We put the title of today’s conversation up. This is unbreakable week for surrounded by vandals.

Let’s hang a big left and go over to Genesis chapter 37, surrounded by vandals. We can take turns reading. We’re gonna read Genesis chapter 37 verse one through 20. Let’s take turns and read these verses together. Not at the same time.

That’s too churchy for me, but, like, let’s take turns reading. So whoever would like to start Jake, lead us out. Genesis 37, start reading in verse one, read a few verses, and then it’s coming. It’s coming. Jake, you teach a ski lesson without your ski poles or come to a ski lesson without your helmet?

Here we go. Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed in the land of in in the land of Canaan. This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of 17, was tending the flocks with his brothers and the sons of Bilah and the sons of Zilpah. This father’s wife and he brought their families a bad new a bad report about them.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of the other sons because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made an ornate robe for them. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, listen to this. Nice.

Good job. And whoever wants to pick up from there. Six. We’re on seven now. Six, seven.

Okay. There we were. Yeah. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright.

And indeed, your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf. And his brothers said to him, shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he dreamed still another dream and told it told it to his brothers and said, look, I have dreamed another dream and this time the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars bowed down to me.

So he told it to his father and his brothers and his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you? And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Wow. Would you read that that one sentence Yes.

One more time and then keep going? And we’re not gonna have any more children, but our grandkids, will you come read the bible to my grandkids someday because it’s so good. You can hire her out. And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Should I keep going?

Yeah. Oops. I mean Okay. Okay. Great.

Let’s do. Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. Yep. And and Israel said to Joseph, are you not your brother Wait. Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem?

Come and I will send you to them. So he said to him, here I am. Then he said to him, please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring back word to me. So he went so he sent him out of the Valley Of Hebron and he went to Shechem. Now, a certain man found him and there were then it wow.

And there he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him saying, what are you seeking? So he said, I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they’re where they are feeding their flocks. And the man said, well, they have departed from here.

So I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. Now, when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, look, this dreamer is coming. Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit.

And we shall say, some wild beast has devoured him. We shall see what will become of his dreams. Now it’s time to consider the text and and make observations about details that we see in the text that could potentially be related to Israel. What do you see? Oh, we have a taker.

Verse nine. Let’s see here. Soon, Joseph had another dream, then again he told his brothers about it. Listen. I’ve had another dream, he said.

The sun and the moon and the 11 stars bowed low before me. How do you see verse nine related to Israel? There are 12 tribes. There we go. We see that there’s 11 stars bowing, bowing, which means there’s one person standing up within one of the tribes allowing the bowing to come.

I first thought about Jesus and how he is a Jew. He is the Jew that came to save the Jews. Ah. And other Jews do bow down down to Jesus. But how dare they, you Jew from Nazareth, tell us to bow down and worship you.

And the brothers are also not happy because how dare they say, we’re gonna bow down to you. You’re the little one. You’re annoying. Probably. I don’t know if they said that part, but they were mad.

Yes. Yeah. Woah. There it is. Hyperlink.

Bing. Bing. Bing. What else? I mean, there’s there’s so much.

We covered a lot of verses, but what else might you see? Ella. In the women’s bible study, we are actually talking about Joseph, so I feel teed up. But just to give some context about who Jacob is, he is like the youngest brother. Joseph.

Sorry, Joseph. Thanks. Joseph is the youngest brother. He is like the fourth wife, like, totally just like their brothers are like, here’s my stepbrother who’s just like this kind of what Lanisha is saying. Just like nobody likes him anyways because he’s the youngest.

Like, my dad has chosen other women and, like, whatever. We’re not actually related to him, blah blah blah blah blah. And so I just feel like with Israel, right, like, we’re always looking down on Israel or, the world is always looking down on Israel. And so I think it’s also just interesting of like, wow. Okay.

We there’s a lot of family issues going on as well with Israel. And so, yeah, I guess that’s just the context that I have for like who Israel might be in this story. Yes. Yes. Look down upon despised.

I know that you meant this, but one detail to correct, Joseph was not the youngest. Benjamin was the youngest. But he’s like right in there. So, yes. Bethany.

I was just looking at verse 11 of his brothers were jealous of him. And I think like in kind of what you were talking about earlier, like the I mean, he’s he’s kind of being a little bit of a twerp. Like, he’s like In the language you used earlier, which I liked, he’s being a bit solipsistic. And so like, there’s some jealousy happening from other people, from the brothers, and so in comparison of something that you’ve talked about a little bit in the series of like, hey, do we have a little tension? Is Israel better than us as Christians?

And we’re kind of like me me, we’re also being me me me me. And so there’s this really cool connection of like, yes, Joseph is particularly and specially chosen for a particular assignment, and he’s precious to God. But he also is kind of being a twerp, and his brothers are also precious, but they just weren’t particularly chosen for this assignment. That is a very real, honest detail to not gloss over and overlook. That’s an honest examination of the text and a legitimate hyperlink to make.

But with that, what is the the pitfall or danger to avoid? Joseph is being a little bit of little lord Fauntleroy prancing around with his roe. My daddy likes me the best. What’s the pitfall to avoid there? Yes.

Antisemitism. Hold on. Here comes the here comes the mic, and I’m gonna invite Lissa up here. I just think when God chooses somebody, sometimes they’re ignorant in their in their giftings. Like, he had the dream, and he’s like, well, it’s so clear to me, you guys.

This is the deal. But I always say you don’t get it until you get it. Like, God was just revealing it, but Joseph was, foolish and ignorant in the way he delivered the truth. Sure. They weren’t ready to hear the truth.

He could have been a little more tactful. Yeah. It caused a lot of trouble. Caused himself. Even though it was true.

It was true. Even though it was true. Mhmm. But once again, God’s sovereignty. Once again, God’s sovereignty is like, oh, Joe.

Joe. Joe. Looks like you wanna do this the hard way, but I’m still sovereign. I I got you. As a quick and in immaturity quick side note, and then I’m gonna land the plane here for today.

Sometimes God will put a dream in your heart. It’s very important to care for and nurture and protect that little dream and you gotta be careful who you share the dream with because before it ever it’s germinated in your heart before it ever sprouts or even bears fruit, vandals could come along and slash it. So here’s what I said in my notes. Put I’ll up here on the screen. In the same way that Joseph was mistreated by his older brothers, so Israel has been mistreated among the nations for thousands of years.

And I chose that word vandal intentionally. You could say persecuted. You could say hated, but but I chose the word vandals specifically because a vandal is a person who defaces or destroys another person’s work simply because it exists. The root of vandalism is jealousy. Weak people commit vandalism.

They see hard work. They see creativity. They see the beauty that someone else has put time, effort, and energy into. And instead of admiring, there is an evil that rises up that simply wants to tear it down. What are examples of vandalism that come to your mind?

Just say it. Graffiti, smashing windows. What? Theft? Yeah.

Oh, that’s nice, and it’s somebody else’s. I’m a cut the chain and take it for myself, and then I’m gonna use it and trash it and then discard it in the ditch. Vandalism with their words. Listen closely for acts of vandalism or incitement of vandalism in people’s words. All the the the the whole system is broken.

We gotta tear the whole thing down. There is systemic fill in the blank. The whole thing needs to come down. Down with it. It’s horrible.

It’s awful. It’s oppressive. But listen closely. No suggestions needs to be defunded. No suggestions on how to improve, how to admire, and make better.

It’s just tear it down. Tear it down. Tear it down. Weak people speak of vandalism. Weak people commit acts of vandalism.

I knew you guys were gonna do this, so I only went to here. We’re going to talk more about a history of vandalism committed against Israel in in a in a week or so. But let’s bring this home to what Lissa was talking about in worship, what Joy was talking about earlier. Vandalism is is awful. Vandalism towards anything or anyone is is awful.

But what about vandalism committed towards you? Have you ever experienced somebody’s words that try to tear you down? They don’t know the hard work that you put into what you’ve built, what you’ve created, what you’ve constructed. But with their words, as you said, they come along with the spray paint Or one rock through a beautiful stained glass window, ruined. The person who throws the rock never could it would never be willing to risk creating a stained glass window.

It’s easy to throw the rock. Maybe maybe some of you have been vandals with your words or life or actions to deface someone else or somebody else’s property. You should take care of that with the Lord. What you defaced was beautiful and innocent, and and you spray painted on it. Maybe you have allowed that old dirty devil to spray paint graffiti on your heart.

And perhaps you have agreed with acts of vandalism committed against your heart, that you would be that you would believe lies that are simply not true. The devil cannot create. He can only imitate and his favorite thing is to do is to to tear down and destroy. With the few minutes that we have left Let me let’s close our eyes and I’m going to ask the Holy Spirit With the people sitting in this room and watching the livestream, Holy Spirit, is there any area of our heart or our life that has been vandalized? Maybe words spoken over us.

Maybe something that was done to us. What did that beautiful train station ever do to deserve graffiti? What did that painting or that artist ever do to deserve to have paint sloshed on it or to be torn down or to be set on fire. Nothing. Lord, is there any area of our life or heart that we have experienced vandalism that doesn’t belong?

This is what makes you so amazing and so good is you are you are a restorer. Restorer. Jesus, in the book of Revelation, you said, behold, I make all things new again. Will you restore our hearts to your beautiful creation? Will you restore our picture of ourselves, not as the world has tried to deface it, but as you see it.

Just let the holy spirit whisper to you for just a moment. We’ll we’ll be done here very soon. Maybe you have vandalized yourself in some way. God is a restorer. Behold, I make all things new.

Will you apply your precious blood to our any area of our heart that may have broken windows, spray paint, graffiti, paint sloshed on it, scratched, dented, marred, broken. Come restore our that. We’re that. Do repent. We’re Let me pray for you, and then I’m gonna invite Amanda up to share offering with us, and then we’ll scoot out of here.

We’ve got another service, hopefully, rowdy as this one. Lord Jesus, I pray over your beautiful creation that you made that represented by people sitting here in this room and watching the livestream and listening to the podcast. Nothing stirs up your righteous anger like vandalism Because you, Lord, have made a beautiful thing in each person that is sitting here. And so, Lord, I pray that anybody in the sound of my voice who the Holy Spirit has just touched an area of their heart where they have experienced vandalism committed against them, and that perhaps potentially they have agreed with, you’re right. Holy Spirit, would you apply the blood of Jesus to that area of their heart and their life?

To their mind, to their past, to brokenness that they’ve experienced. And would you make that new and beautiful again? And I understand for something, for some of you, it may be a process. Jesus, we love you. We thank you.

We thank you. We thank you. In your own words, would you take just a moment and and say, restore my heart? Would you scrub off that spray paint? Would you replace that broken window?

Lord, help me. Restore me. Restore me to the optimal expression of your beautiful creation, and I’m praying for you. And part of my pastor’s heart, despite how fussy you may be sometimes, I I try really hard to see the beauty of God’s creation in your life, and I think it is pretty amazing. Jesus, we love you.

Okay, Amanda. Come. So I just thought of this illustration that I Clinician and I were talking about this a while ago. But thinking about vandalism of your heart, did you know that if you put a Sharpie marker on a whiteboard, it doesn’t come off? Right?

It’s a permanent marker. That’s what they’re called. You can put the spray. You can rub really hard. Sharpies are permanent markers and they do not come off of whiteboards.

But do you know what erase is it? A whiteboard marker. It just takes it right off. And so in my mind, I’m thinking of permanent things that we have in our life or the permanent things that we have on our heart. And I’m just imagining a red Sharpie representing the blood of Jesus just coming.

You just have to have the right tool, and the only tool is Jesus. Dry erase. The a red dry erase marker just comes and immediately removes what’s permanent. So that’s just a picture I have in my mind. As we think about our tithe and our offering today, I’m just reminded that the best place to be in the entire world is in God’s will.

And the way that we stay there, one of the ways is to keep our heart calibrated to his. We stay in alignment. God, what is important to you? We sing a song sometimes that the line says, break my heart for what breaks yours. We wanna stay in alignment to our heavenly father to be in his will.

That could mean having discussions like we’ve had today. Even if there’s tension to wrestle through, that’s good. That’s health healthy. That’s where growth comes from. Whether it’s reading our bible when we wanna do some scrolling, being obedient, and actually not just hearing the holy spirit, but doing what he’s asking you to do in both big and small things.

All these things keep our heart calibrated to our heavenly father. And one of the things we do corporately when we come together as a tribe family is we bring our tithe and our offering to him. You can do it anytime. It does not have to be at 10:40 on a Sunday morning. Right?

Any old time is fine. But just encourage you to have a moment with the Lord whenever you do bring your tithe and offering. Whether it’s physically dropping something in or on our website or on the smartphone. Just have a moment with the Lord. Father, what do you want me to give today?

What would keep my what amount would keep my heart calibrated with you today? And it’ll probably change and shift. Might might feel easy. It probably will feel hard. And it’s just money.

Right? It comes and it goes. We can tell the world that’s how we buy, save, spend. He doesn’t need American dollars to do his work, but it’s something that can grip the human heart. Money.

And so when we bring a portion of it to him, it’s a way to say, it’s all yours anyway, father. I trust you. Even if it’s, like, tightly, you have to rip it out of your own hand or if you keep a loose hand and it falls right out. He can work with you on that. He’ll meet you where you’re at.

So as we bring our tithe and above and beyond that, our offering today and every day, I just encourage you to think of it with the lens of I’m calibrating my heart to my heavenly fathers. And remember that yucky stuff that would prevent you, but I’m not worthy of bringing a tithe or I’m not worthy of worshiping. That’s that old permanent marker that just needs the right application, the blood of Jesus. So let’s bow our head and pray. Heavenly father, you are so worthy of every expression of worship we could possibly muster up in our humanness.

We just say thank you for who you are, who you’ve always been, and who who you’ll continue to be. You are so faithful and like we sang today, your promises are true. So, lord, we just thank you for helping our hearts to be calibrated with you through this series of conversations, through the bringing of our tithe and offering, through our obedience to you, through our quiet time. All those ways, father, because we just want to be in will when it comes to every area of our life. And so we say thank you for your faithfulness.

And, father, on a practical level, I I appreciate the fact that we get to partner with you for this sweet little town called Jackson that you love so much, the people in it that you love so much. Your beautiful creation, it is breathtaking, but your eyes are on people. And we thank you so much that we have the opportunity to just as we we have to spend money to help people with food or rent or doing the work of the ministry, Lord. Thank you that tribe, as long as we’re this local church, we will always steward what comes in the way that you want us to. What a privilege and an honor to partner with you.

We say thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen. Check the fridge for announcements. Happy Super Bowl Sunday, Brian. Come on up.

Amanda Amanda, you stay there. Let me pray for us. I know I’m not on the screen. I don’t care. Stand up.

Let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, thank you for today. Thank you, Lord, that your blood removes all act of vandalism that we have committed or committed against us. Give us a great week, Lord. Thank you for giving us one more day here in this beautiful town of Jackson Hole.

Give us a great week, Lord. We love you. We pray these things. In Jesus’ name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen.

I love you. Have a great week. Don’t put your snow shovel away just yet. And remember, Felicia, you got this.