WHEN IN ROMANS | Part 3 | The Promise Provision & Persecution

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Hey,

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heat. Hey.

>> [music]

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[applause]

>> Hallelujah.

Grace Summit, church. How's everybody

feeling today?

>> All right. Hey, I got to say this. If uh

you were one that was praying for snow,

um you're grounded, by the way. And uh

after this service, you need to come to

the altar and repent. And we're going to

pray for you. This weather's crazy,

isn't it,

>> man? I was in Israel. It's 86°

and I come home to this mess.

>> God bless America. [laughter]

>> Well, hey, we're going to dive into the

word of God today. Uh before we do, hey,

a reminder to our veterans um after this

service, stick around and uh we have a

meal prepared and we're going to

celebrate. Do we have do we have a

military in the house?

>> Oh my good. Can we celebrate them?

[applause]

I mean, because of our United States

military, we can stand in this place and

worship our God with freedom.

>> Can we got to celebrate him one more

time? Are you guys thankful for them?

[applause]

All right, church. You ready?

>> Hey, if you're new to Grace Summit

Church, my name is Ben. I have the

opportunity to serve as lead pastor

here, and I've been gone for a couple of

weeks. Uh, but let me give you a little

heads up uh with my preaching style. Be

ready to take notes and talk back to me.

Uh, because participation is better than

observation. Amen.

>> And so, many of you know that I just got

back from Israel. And so I'm going to

share uh the word of God, but I'm also

going to share a little bit of my trip.

Would you pray with me? Father, we thank

you, Lord, for the revival breaking

loose in the hearts of people. Father, I

thank you for this fresh stirring that's

happening even now. God, as we worship

you and the spirit of God on the inside

of us, connects with an eternal God in

heaven. And Father, I thank you now for

the blood of Jesus Christ that we even

have access to you, God. Lord, that we

can stand in your very presence and

receive of you. And so, Father, I thank

you for your anointing upon this

service, upon the communication of your

word. Bless it now. We pray in Jesus'

name. And God's people said, "Amen."

Well, hey, a few pictures just from my

trip here. Uh went to uh Poland for 3

days and then spent the majority of the

time, eight days, in Israel around

Jerusalem. And uh you know, I saw this

earlier. I think that my face isn't that

fat in real life, is it? Did you guys

think it stretched it a little bit? And

then this is going out on live stream.

That adds 10 pounds. I'm gonna look like

a chunka monk on live stream. Sheesh.

Anyways, this is me in front of uh

standing on the uh Mount of Olives,

Garden of Gethsemane, uh looking down on

the Temple Mount. And and you have old

Jerusalem here with the with the walls

that are incredibly old. Over here, we

we visited the uh uh embassy, the new

embassy in Jerusalem that Donald Trump

established. and uh got it to Jerusalem

where it's supposed to be. And uh we

have another picture. Let's see here.

Look at this.

>> Ain't this beautiful, you guys?

>> And let me give you a little context. So

this is uh Islam. This is Muslim mosque

that's over that. And uh not a huge fan

of that, right? But underneath of that

is Mount Mariah. And that's the location

that Abraham bound Isaac. You guys

remember that story? And uh then some

time passed and and uh we have uh uh

Jebusites kind of took over for a while

and then King David shows up on the

scene and and uh sends Joab underneath

through a tunnel and opens up the gates

and then David established it as

Jerusalem and made it go kind of God's

city, God's territory. And all through

scripture there's so much reference to

this particular area and I had the

opportunity to stand there. I got to say

this, I brought back more than than

pictures and souvenirs.

I brought back a revelation

and I'm going to share it with you

today.

And really, we we've been hanging out in

Romans as a church. And the revelation

that God gave me is a key that unlocks

one of the most powerful and most

misunderstood chapters in your Bible.

It's Romans chapter 11. Uh before we

Romans 11 · chapter mention

dive into the scriptures, I want to uh

share a story that I found uh that might

connect with you this morning uh about a

woman named Rebecca.

And so Rebecca is born into a family

rattled by tragedy. Her biological

mother was just a teenage girl, a victim

of an abusive, broken home. When Rebecca

was born, her young mother looked at her

daughter and made the most

heart-wrenching decision of her life.

She recognized she couldn't give her the

stable, loving life she deserved. So, in

a secret pact, she gave Rebecca to her

cousin. It was a couple who longed for a

child but couldn't have one of their

own. The adoption was quiet and quick.

The only connection to her past was this

shoe box. It was filled with a letter.

It had a faded photo of her birth

mother, an old wedding ring, and a

handwritten family tree. The box was

tucked away deep in a closet and never

spoken of. Her adoptive parents loved

her fiercely, but they wanted to shield

her from the pain and chaos of her

biological family's past. So for years,

Rebecca lived with this word chosen, but

also with this silent aching question,

where do I really come from? She felt

like a puzzle with a piece forever

missing because she was never told where

she came from.

Then on her 30th birthday, Rebecca

decided to take a DNA test. And for the

first time, every missing piece clicks

into place. The truth comes out. She

tells her adoptive parents what she

found. And the shoe box finally comes

out. She realizes it was love that

placed her in this home. It was love

that preserved heritage even in secret.

The wound of not knowing was met with a

healing revelation.

She didn't just randomly land in a good

family. She was always part of the

story, part of the bloodline,

and part of the heritage.

And that's exactly what Romans 11 is

about.

We as Gentiles, unless you're born of

the bloodline of Jewish descent, you are

a Gentile. Do I have any Gentiles in the

house? Come on, you guys are wild. Let

me hear from the Gentiles in the house

of God. Hey,

I did my DNA. I think I'm like 1% Jew.

It was like this little thing and I was

like, I made it. I am God's chosen.

I'm a Gentile.

We as Gentiles come from this

traumafilled, dysfunctional

past, but we were chosen in love to be

part of the family of God.

And today, as we go through the

scriptures, the DNA test results are in

that you are part of the bloodline

that goes beyond Christianity,

beyond just 2,000 years ago. We're

grafted in. The Bible says, and I want

to give you three major points today

that were grafted in. Number one, to the

promise. Number two, to the provision.

And number three to the persecution.

The promise, the provision,

and the persecution.

All right, you guys ready?

I'm going to read a good portion of

Romans chapter 11 to build a little bit

Romans 11 · chapter mention

of context. And I have the whole chapter

in front of me. I might jump around a

little bit for for sake of time and uh

see what God wants to pull out. Romans

11 and verse one.

Paul said this. He said, "I ask then,

has God rejected his own people, the

nation of Israel?"

Of course not. He says, "I myself am an

Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, and

a member of the tribe of Benjamin." Oh

my goodness. Paul's a member of the tri

I call my kids every once in a while

Benjamites.

You are of the tribe of Benjamin.

I don't think that's what he meant here

ascendant of Abraham, a member of the

tribe of Benjamin. Verse two, no, God

has not rejected his own people whom he

chose from the very beginning. Can I

just say this? If God hasn't rejected

them, I haven't rejected them.

Now, I want to skip to verse five. It

says, uh, it is the same today. Say,

today

>> for a few of the people of Israel have

remained faithful because of God's

grace, his undeserved kindness in

choosing them. And since it is through

God's kindness, then it is not by their

good works. For in that case, God's

grace would not be what it really is,

free and undeserved.

So this is the situation.

Most of the people of Israel have not

found the favor of God. They are looking

for so earnestly. A few have, the ones

God has chosen. But the hearts of the

rest were hardened. As the scriptures

say, God has put them into a deep sleep.

Who? Who put them into a deep sleep?

>> Okay. God has put them into a deep

sleep. To this day, he has shut their

eyes so they do not see and closed their

ears so they do not hear.

Let me jump down a little bit further.

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.

It's one of the best portions of

scripture we could find as Gentiles,

right? But he wanted his own people to

become jealous and claim it for

themselves. Now, if the Gentiles were

enriched because the people of Israel

turned down God's offer of salvation,

think how much greater a blessing the

world will share when they finally

accept it.

There's a day when all the Jewish people

will finally accept it. Verse 13. I'm

saying all this especially for you

Gentiles. God has appointed me as the

apostle to the Gentiles. I stress this.

For I want somehow to make the people of

Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have

so I might save some of them. For since

their rejection meant that God offered

salvation to the rest of the world,

their acceptance will be even more

wonderful. It will be life for those who

were dead. And since Abraham and the

other patriarchs were holy, their

descendants will also be holy, just as

the entire batch of dough is holy,

because the portion given as an offering

is holy. For if the roots of the tree

are holy, the branches will be too.

Powerful scripture.

Verse 19.

Well, let me verse 17. But some of these

branches from Abraham's tree, some of

the people of Israel, catch this, have

been broken off. And you Gentiles who

were branches from a wild olive tree

have been grafted in. Say, grafted in.

>> So now you also receive the blessing God

has promised Abraham and his children,

sharing in the rich nourishment 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 me. Yes, but

remember those branches were broken off

because they didn't believe in Christ.

That's the determining factor. And you

are there because you do 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.

I'll stop there, but you guys are

catching the essence of the scriptures

that we are grafted into something

deeper, something further, something

that goes beyond just our story of a

Jewish rabbi named Jesus 2,000 years

ago.

It goes deeper. Say deeper.

>> Deeper.

>> You've been grafted in to the people of

Israel, chosen by God.

And as I'm walking in Israel, this

chapter continues to resonate in my

spirit. And I'm praying and I'm saying,

"What are we grafted into? What does

that actually mean?" We're grafted into

the promise, the provision, and the

persecution. Number one is the promise.

uh Genesis 12 1-3

uh this is where God promises to make

Abraham a great nation. You remember

this to bless him to make his name great

and that catch this all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.

We're standing on the promises not just

of Christianity. We're standing on the

promises of Judaism.

Now I got to say this. There's uh some

different theology that's more modern in

our American churches and one of them is

called replacement theology. What it

means is that the Jews are out and the

Christians are in

and we no longer really stand on the

foundation because uh Christ came and

kind of demolished the the former and so

now we're living under the new covenant

only. A and then there's a different

type of theology called dispensational

theology. And this is where I land is

that we're standing upon a foundation

that goes before 2,000 years. Jesus

Christ said that he came to fulfill the

law, not to destroy it. Amen. That's

right.

>> In the days of Christ and even Paul the

Apostle, he was dealing with uh not just

Jewish individuals but thankfully

Gentiles. And uh there was another group

of people called Judaizers.

And their idea was that you have to

become Jewish in order to be saved. And

we know that's not true. Also,

I got to say this.

I've spent a majority of my life

studying this book,

these scriptures.

And one of the things that we need to

understand that this book is largely a

Jewish book.

Amen.

>> The entire Old Testament is the religion

of the Jews. And then we have Jesus, a

Jewish rabbi, teaching in the synagogues

from the Torah, the Old Testament.

And then we have Peter was a Jew. Go

through the list of New Testament

believers. And we have Paul the Apostle

that wrote most of our New Testament is

a Jew. He said, "Man, I I'm an Israelite

of Israelites. Man, I was I'm a Pharisee

of Pharisees. I was trained by one of

the best in the Jewish religion. I mean,

G uh Paul was very Jewish.

Standing in Jerusalem,

walking the streets, being in Galilee in

Capernaum,

you can almost hear the echoes of Jesus,

teaching.

You guys want to see some pictures?

>> Okay. I stood at Peter's house.

Look at this,

you guys. this is Peter that we read

about in scripture, archaeologically

confirmed this is Peter's house. When

you get inside, there's there's actually

inscriptions that date back to the first

century confirming that this was Peter's

house. And so we're we're standing there

and uh as we're in Capernaum, you know,

Jesus only spent uh only did a couple

miracles in Jerusalem, but but he

actually moved from Nazareth and he

lived in Capernaum for like two and a

half years and he did the majority of

his miracles here. And and so you're

standing here and if you were able to

look over there, I could throw a rock

and hit the synagogue where Jesus

taught. And I was able to walk through

that synagogue. A and we went as a group

and we stood at all these different

locations and we're reading all of the

scriptures of the miracles that

happened.

You guys are really quiet today, but

that's good stuff.

Anyone in here ever watch Rocky?

Yeah. Guys, you watch Rocky when you're

done. Don't you feel like you could beat

up anyone? You ever watch it and you're

like, you get out of there like, man,

I'm feeling good. Like, say it again,

fool. You know what I mean? Like you're

just feeling some kind of way. Listen, I

had that similar feeling. I'm standing

in Capernaum and we're reading through

the scriptures and all of these miracles

and I'm going, man, this is I'm feeling

stirred up. I mean, I'm feeling

energized. I'm feeling something. The

power of the Holy Spirit's there and and

this amazing atmosphere and it's not

like uh there's another city around.

We're standing in Capernaum and I'm

looking at the Sea of Galilee and I'm

hearing all these stories that God's

doing something in me and many of you

know before I left I had a major back

issue

and at the same I was in the hospital

for a few days.

My doctors are Christian. They did

everything they could to get me on the

trip.

So, I made it. And listen, when we're

walking over there, it's serious stuff.

Okay? We started one day

at the uh Mount of Olives, Garden of

Gethsemane. We walked down the mountain

through the Kidron Valley up to

Jerusalem to the old city. We walk

through the city. Then we go hang out at

Caiaphas's house. He wasn't home. I

checked.

So I have the watch that keeps track of

all the steps. And bunch of lead pastors

on the group. And they kept asking me,

they were old guys. They didn't have

cool watches like this.

And say, "Hey, how many steps do we

have?" I looked, man. We had 22,000

steps. It's over 10 miles. And my watch

was showing over 27 floors of elevation.

So, that was day one. Capernaum was day

three.

I got to tell you, I'm standing there

hearing these miracles and two things

are happening. Power of the spirit

stirring in me and and God's moving and

I'm starting to feel some kind of way

like, man, I I got I got faith. I can

speak to that mountain over there, make

it, you know, I'm feeling that, but at

the same time, my back is barking at me

and I'm doing everything I can to put

the pain aside so I can focus in the

moment. And so we kind of get done and

and there's a a little uh free time and

a friend of mine that's on the trip u

he's sitting down and and he says, "Man,

you're hurting, aren't you?" I said,

"Yes, I'm hurting really bad." And with

everything going on, I said, "Man, if I

was ever going to get healed, standing

here, Capernaum would be the place I'd

want to be healed." He says, "Well,

let's pray." It's my favorite statement.

"Well, let's pray." I said, "All right."

So, he calls another guy over and and

nothing glamorous, just a simple prayer.

lays hands on me and prayed. And he gets

done. He doesn't have what I would call

a prophetic word, but he had a spiritual

sense. And so, he says, he goes, "Man, I

have a real similar uh sense that I had

a few years ago. I prayed for a guy and

uh the sense was that it would be a

progressive healing, not an

instantaneous. And so he said something

like this. He said, "Man, I just really

sense in a few days, in a few weeks, in

a few months, you're going to receive

the full healing." I said, "Well, man, I

receive it." And I walked away. A little

[snorts] bit later, we're down by the

Sea of Galilee and I touch the water and

I'll tell you the kind of tourist I am.

I touch the water and then I grab a few

pebbles and look around and put them in

my pocket. I'm like [laughter]

like I want some of that to come home

with me, man. This is like the Sea of

Galilee. Uh I mean, just amazing stuff.

So anyways, a little bit later, we're

going back to the bus and him and I sat

next to each other. We're getting out at

the same time and he and he says, "Man,

hey, uh by the way, how's your back

feeling?" First time I took

self-evaluation and I said, "Dude, to be

honest, I I don't feel any pain."

You can clap for that.

>> [applause]

>> cuz that's a strange thing in my world

with the pain that I've lived with for

years. So, I got to say this, I haven't

had pain since.

>> So, 11-day trip through the doctors. I

was doing five hours of physical therapy

three days a week to even get myself on

the plane to get over to the trip. So, I

had my doctor and my physical therapist

lined up. Both same same office. Had it

all lined up for Monday. I got back

Friday. Survived jet lag. That thing's

serious.

And uh Monday, I go to the doctor's

office. Telling them the story. They're

believers. So, my physical therapist

says, "All right, let's get you up on

the table." And he's doing range of

motion stuff. And he goes, "Dude, I got

to tell you, your range of motion is

phenomenal." I said, "Well, praise God."

He goes, "I think God might have touched

you." He stopped five times in physical

therapy to say that statement. And he

looked bewildered and he said, "I think

God might have touched you." I said, "I

think so, too. Like, I'm not playing

healing. I I feel great." You know what

I mean? Moving around. Let's do some

stuff, man. You know, [applause]

glory to God. I felt like Pastor Kurt

right there.

My pastor used to preach. He'd get his

leg and he'd go, "Glory to God." And

he'd take off running.

[laughter]

So then the doctor walks by while we're

doing physical therapy. He goes, "Well,

tell the doctor about us." So, I gave

the doctor the cliffnotes version,

right, real quick. Then he goes, "Well,

I I'll" He has a clipboard. He goes,

"I'll see you in a little bit. We'll

check it out." A little bit of

skepticism. I said, "All right." So,

then later, I go down to the doctor's

office and he has the images from before

and he's he's doing imaging stuff now.

And he goes he goes, "Man, there's only

one explanation." He goes, "I think God

might have touched you." I said, "I

think so, too."

And I and he's looking at it and I said,

"So, doctor, is it what you're telling

me that this is a medically verified

miracle?" He goes, "I think so." I said,

"Glory to God." [applause]

So, if you have pain in your body, fly

to Israel. [laughter]

Hallelujah. Okay, we got more pictures.

Look, I was on the Sea of Galilee.

Look at that. This is a replica boat of

what they had in the days of Christ. Uh

and uh man, I was out there. Uh look at

you guys notice there's no houses. This

is the Sea of Galilee. You can't be

there without picturing Jesus walk on

water, you know? I mean, just the

miracles there. Uh and we stayed in a

kabutz, which is a small village right

at the Sea of Galilee. Let's see the

next one. While I'm there, I'm so

excited. that I called my wife video

called and it's night time out and I'm

like I am by the Sea of Galilee. I'm up

on a rock like trying to show her and

it's pitch black out.

But look at this. Look at this. This is

Nazareth path. This is the path that

people would travel from Jerusalem or

Nazareth up to Galilee area. But it's

just absolutely stunning to stand there

in the Holy Land and take it all in. Um

this oh this is that synagogue I was

telling you that Jesus would have taught

in. And uh it's fun, man. And we we were

there reading the scriptures and going

through the stories and uh we got to one

part off to the right. There's actually

another doorway over here that you can

get through the other side. And so we're

asking, we're going, "What's the stuff

on the ground?" There's like

inscriptions carved into the stone. She

goes, "Well, in America, don't you guys

have kids church where the kids go in a

different section?" I said, "Yeah." She

goes, "These are games." And she started

showing us the game from over 2,000

years ago, still carved into the stones.

I said, "Man, that's amazing that the

kids would be in this section, the

adults would be in that section. Uh, not

a whole lot has changed, huh?

Good stuff."

So, Jesus,

this Jewish rabbi, Peter being Jewish,

Paul the Apostle being Jewish, he wasn't

some outside religious theorist.

He was a Jew, well-trained, is writing

this chapter

in Romans chap 11 and giving us the idea

or the reality of being grafted into

something,

grafted into Judaism, to the original

chosen people.

He's not giving us a botany lesson.

The the idea is that we become part of

the tree standing on the foundation of

what has been.

Christ came to fulfill the law, not to

destroy it.

I I want you to hear this. Christianity

with Christ coming was not uh some

audible that God pulled and like this is

a plan B. It's not working. And so

here's the plan B. Let me send Jesus and

mess with the Gentiles for a while. See

if we can get a new the the plan was the

plan from the beginning of time. We

serve a God that is all knowing, all

powerful, and before the foundation of

the earth, he foresaw the end of all

time.

>> Amen.

And so from the very beginning, you and

I, the Gentiles, were part of plan A as

far as this olive branch, this wild

branch being grafted in to the original

people of God because God saw you and

God chose you to be part of something

bigger than you.

Almost started preaching. You guys want

to see some olive trees?

>> I have a hard time preaching. There's so

many cool stories. Look at this.

And this is this is hundreds of years

old tree. This one they they confirm

that there's trees in this is garden of

Gethsemane. There's trees that are older

than 2,000 years that would have been

there when Jesus knelt and prayed and

sweat great drops of blood. And this was

the biggest tree that I found. I said,

"That's the one. Man,

I got to tell you, I'm walking through

the through the garden of Gethsemane and

uh looked around,

took me a little olive branch. I said, I

nobody told me not to, man. This thing's

coming home with me. So, I got a little

olive branch. Yeah.

But we're grafted in to the tree.

I think about a tree like that 2,000

years old that's still bearing fruit,

good fruit. And I think about what that

tree has seen through the centuries,

all of the wars, the droughts, the

Ottoman Empire. I mean, everything has

changed over there so many times. and

what that tree has seen. And I thought

about what's the secret to a tree that

can survive that long and still bear

fruit. And the answer is the root

system.

That the roots go way deeper than you

think and way wider than you think to

survive 2,000 years and produce fruit.

Paul says in Romans 11:17 that we are

Romans 11:17

nourished by that deep ancient root.

We're grafted in to that ancient tree.

You need to hear this.

When Christ came, the olive tree wasn't

uprooted. It was extended.

He didn't demolish the old Jewish

covenants.

He grafted in a new gentile people to be

part of his family. And we receive this

spirit by which we cry, "Aba, Father."

Amen. We're not illegitimate children.

So, we're grafted in to the promise.

We're grafted into the provision that

comes through the tree. We know that

that that Jesus is the vine and we're

the branch. And so, that's where that

fruit bearing comes from. It's Jew and

Gentile together. And we're also pers uh

grafted into the persecution.

And I want to say this. Anytime that God

marks out a people, the devil paints a

target on their backs.

Have you felt it?

Yeah.

I I think about just the Jewish people

from Pharaoh's Egypt,

Hmon's plot,

even after Christ, the destruction of

the temple. Uh,

and I shared that I was able to spend a

few days in Poland.

Why a tour of the biblical holy lands

would start in Poland.

The genocide of the Holocaust.

Do you guys know? I mean, think about

this number. Six million Jews

murdered

just because they were Jews.

All in a short amount of time. I was

able to visit those uh those camps. We

call them death camps. Uh a couple of

pictures here. This is Ashawitz. Uh this

is uh one of the rooms. And I got to say

this that I learned this. The Jewish

people didn't know that they were about

to be killed. And so one of the

questions that came up as we're touring

this area is why didn't the Jews fight

back? I mean there was actually more

Jews than there were Nazis.

And the answer was they didn't know that

they were about to be killed. They were

lied to. They were tricked. They were

put on these trains and robbed out of

their homes, put on these trains, driven

to the concentration camp, and and they

all thought it was just a relocation

thing. And they get off the trains

and they get ushered into this room,

stripped naked, put into this room, and

let's see the next one. And then they

were taken into this room. That green,

that bluish green is is uh stain from

the poison. Hundreds of Jews would walk

into this room, the gas would come on,

they would all get murdered, and they

would be ushered out the back to the

crematory and their bodies burnt.

Why? Why the Jewish people? Why not

other people?

Because the devil put a mark on their

back. Because even uh in recent history,

they're still God's chosen people.

I looked at a book, Guinness Book of

World Records calls it the biggest book

in the world. Uh there's over five

million names of Jews that died in the

Holocaust. There's another million

unknown names that they have confirmed

bodies, but no name

that goes with it. At one of the death

camps, we had uh this. The Soviets

actually built this over the top. There

was a roof over it. Uh but underneath

that, we were able to go right up and

and look at it. And if you look off to

this side over here, the crematories

over there where they burn the bodies

and the ashes would go into this uh pile

and the roof was over to keep the ashes

from getting rained on. And they were

actually selling the ashes to local

farmers for fertilizer.

There were areas in Ashawitz that you

couldn't take pictures or videos.

one room and we had

uh our group was all men, all lead

pastors. We had a second bus that

traveled with us that was nextgen

pastors which was a mixed group with

ladies and men. And we all traveled

together and there were a lot of the

ladies that were completely overwhelmed.

I was overwhelmed.

We walk into this room that would have

been a spot where Jews were kept

awaiting their death and there's a glass

wall there.

The entire room is full of human hair

and next to it is where they were taking

hair and turning it into textile into

material so they could sell it and make

money. I don't think we understand the

gravity of the persecution of the Jewish

people.

There's more. I've shared enough.

There's more stories I could tell that

would make you not sleep at night that

they're sharing with us.

Even now,

we look at the current map and my trap

trip was

partially tours of the biblical sites,

but it was also geopolitical. I was able

to go down to the Gaza envelope and be

right at the border of the Gaza Strip. I

was able to walk through a kabut with a

a young lady. Her name is Rifka, which

would translate Rebecca.

And I fell in love with her. I just

wanted to take her as my grandma. She's

like the sweetest woman. And she's

telling us testimonies and stories.

Uh October 7th, two years ago, uh people

from Palestine, Hamas, came flying in

with parachutes, three of them, and shot

and killed 18 people in their village.

And uh as she's going through, she knew

these people personally. She's lived in

that kabutz for 35 years. And uh let's

roll the next.

This is the bomb shelter that they would

have. This is their reality that because

missiles come over the border so much,

they have these bomb shelters around the

houses. There's no doors. You can see

the bullets right there. Um, but a

friend of hers, a young lady, uh, went

running in there because the sirens were

there and, uh, was chased in there, ran

into that corner, and was murdered right

there by Hamas. That's one of a

ridiculous amount of stories that I

heard walking through this. And if we

think that persecution of the Jews is

gone, we're wrong.

I was able to travel also to the Western

Bank and meet the man that actually drew

the map for the Western Bank and built

the fence. Many of we know it as the

Iron Dome, the one that shoots down the

missiles and got to spend a half a day

with him as he explained all the

technology and how the United States has

bought that technology and used it

around the White House and different

things. And now Trump's talking about

the Golden Dome because he's bigger and

better. It's got to be gold, right?

But he shared story after story. Uh

we're looking over to the Western Bank

border. Um looking that way was a whole

bunch of houses that were apartment

buildings maybe five to seven stories

high and tells the stories of every

single day there's bullets that are

flying across from Palestinians. Not

Hamas, Palestinians.

And that regularly

it happens where people at night flip on

the light and walk by the window and get

shot. And so now people that live there

crawl on the floor.

This is the reality. I was able to

travel all the way to the north and

stand at the Syrian border and speak to

the commander of the north. Um this guy,

he was one of the most intimidating men

I met on the trip. This is normalsized

humans.

And this is this guy uh strapped. He's

walking around like it's nothing. He's

got there's and what we we it was we're

not allowed to take pictures of

military. All of these sites I had um

IDF with M16s everywhere. And so we're

traveling through uh talking with him

and he's telling us the reality of the

Syrian border and how every single day

there's attacks. We think now only Gaza

strip because that's in the news. But

the reality is every single day all

three borders, the one side is the

Mediterranean Sea, but all three borders

they're being attacked just to survive,

just to have their country, to have

their freedom.

When I hear this garbage happening in

America of pro Palestine, it makes me

sick.

Here's the reality. I was able to stand

in Israel on the Israeli side of the

Gaza Strip and feel completely protected

and safe.

If I flew into Palestine or the Gaza

Strip or any one of those, just being an

American in Palestine, I will become a

hostage or I will get murdered just

because I'm from America. I can't even

go and evaluate the other side.

Pro Palestine.

It's garbage.

If God's for the Jewish people, if God's

for Israel, I think I'll stand on God's

side.

Almost started preaching.

Man, I took a jeep ride. This was at the

Syrian border. I got all dusty. And this

is one of their bunkers. There's You

walk through and there's spots for guns

and protecting that. But this is what we

were looking at on the northern border.

As we were driving through taking the

Jeep tour, I got to go in the

underground bunkers where they both

sides have underground tunnels. It was

creepy

and cool.

Think about why in the world would the

enemy be so adamant to take out the

Jewish people?

It's because they're still God's people.

They're still God's people.

Rome took out the temple in 70 AD and

the Jewish people were dispersed all

over the world and that was a

fulfillment of prophecy. We know in 1948

after the Holocaust and the second world

war that Israel became a nation again.

Again another fulfillment of prophecy.

As Christians were grafted into this

story

we're also grafted into the opposition

and the persecution that they're

experiencing. We have the devil,

our own flesh, and the culture around us

persecuting and coming against trying to

cut us off from that original olive tree

being the people of God to to feed off

of that nourishment of the life source

of God.

We're grafted into that same

persecution.

Romans 11 screams this truth that

persecution cannot sever what God has

grafted in.

Here's the scripture I stand on. If God

before me, who can be against me? Amen.

>> The devil meant for evil, God turns and

uses for good. If God can pres uh

preserve his ancient people through

wars, exile and genocide, he will most

certainly see us through as a grafted

branch from every storm that we face.

So, this leads us to the million-dollar

question.

If God's promises to Israel are so true,

and if Jesus is actually the Jewish

Messiah, why don't the Jewish people see

it?

I had to ask that question because I

made friends with our tour guide. She's

absolutely amazing. Her name is Shira

and she led us through and uh she's

actually uh in the reformed Jewish

tradition. She's a rabbi and she's been

doing tours like this for 13 years. Man,

we're standing at the sites. I mean, she

was a wealth of information. And not

just walked through the city of David,

you know, walking through there and

we're we're overlooking where David

looked down on Basheba. I mean, I was

right there and she's telling us all of

the all of the history of the Old

Testament. She's also sharing with us

every New Testament story. I've studied

the Bible for a lot of years and she was

bringing New Testament revelation to me

going, "Wow, I never saw that."

But yet her she herself does not believe

that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Why is

that? We read about it that God has

hardened their hearts or placed a veil

and it's for a purpose. It's for a

reason.

Gentiles got saved to make the Jews

jealous. Paul said, "Why in the world

would God heal me at Capernaum with

Shira standing right there?" You know,

all these different sites that we'd go

to, uh, these weren't just pastors. The

majority of these were spiritfilled

pastors. And so, we're in these

locations, man. We're we're touching the

western wall and we're all praying in

the spirit and we're we start

worshiping. Uh man, we were in one spot

by the pool of Bethesda. Then there was

a church that they built there. And so

we go inside, we started singing and we

we became a choir. And the other people,

the tourists came in and started

worshiping with us. And it was just

impromptu, man. We're we're overflowed

with the spirit. Let's worship God. And

Shar is just standing there. And over

and over and over, she said, "I think

you guys are the best group that I've

ever led. I just love you guys. Do you

know that God was working on her heart?

God let her see me get healed

for a purpose.

Romans 11:25

Romans 11:25

says, "It's a mystery, a temporary.

God ordained blindness, catch this,

until the fullness of the Gentiles has

come."

God didn't bench Israel.

He's using this season

to swing the doors of heaven wide open

for the Gentiles.

We serve an amazing God.

And he is the God not only of the

Christian but also the Jew.

had an amazing opportunity

to be in Jerusalem on Friday night, all

day Friday, and they were talking about

Shabbat, Sabbath. And Friday night at

dusk, dark, the entire city shuts down.

There's no stores, no restaurants,

nothing open, no cars on the street.

We're talking a major city. There's not

cars. And so at Friday night, we go down

to the Western Wall, not able to video,

not able to picture. I have my little

kipa on because you have to have a head

covering. It's the rules. So I have my

little Jewish hat on and I have my

little prayer all written down on a

piece of paper and I didn't even know

what I was in for. And you go there and

there's Orthodox Jews that are so

incredibly devout.

You have three different sects. You have

the Drews, you have the Reformed, and

you have the Orthodox Jew.

And there's hundreds if not thousands of

Jewish people worshiping at the Western

Wall because it's the closest location

to the Holy of Holies. And they said the

only way to get through, they're talking

to our group, uh, is you got to you got

to force your way through. You're not

being rude. It's a different culture

here. So, you just have to push your way

through. And so, me and a couple of the

guys said, "I'm going, man." And so, I

go through and the energy and the power

was so heavy. I got close to the Western

Wall. I had my piece of paper and the

spirit of God hit me so heavy. I stood

there and wept and prayed in tongues.

God is still for the Jewish people.

Amen.

After that, we were able to walk to a

Jewish rabbi's home. He invited us, all

30 of us, 27 of us, into his home and

made a traditional Shabbat dinner for

us. And he showed us what they do every

single Friday night. and he and he

grabbed his several daughters and he

grabs each one by the head and he kissed

their head and he spoke a uh in in

Hebrew he spoke a blessing over their

life. We had to do a traditional

cleansing where we washed our hands in a

certain way and we went to the table and

it was dead silent until the first piece

of bread was broken and we read the Old

Testament scriptures together

and had some of the best pastrami I've

ever eaten in my life.

The hummus, we've never you've never

even had hummus. If you've had it, it's

not even the same. Yeah. My wife, she

picks up. She's like, "Do you think

you're Jewish?" I'm just like, "I just

want some good hummus and pastrami,

please."

It was so amazing.

I say all that to say that they are

devout and they're worshiping the same

God that you and I worship.

And I'll close with this. While I was in

Israel

and we go down to Mount of Olives and

back up through the Kedaran Valley, we

stood at the eastern gate.

Let's get a picture of that. Look at

this. This is the eastern gate. Now, uh

Islam has put all these bricks in. These

came after, but this was the gate that

Jesus rode the donkey through. And uh if

you're standing here and you look, the

Mount of Olives is right there. And the

Bible says when Jesus Christ returns,

he's going to come down on the Mount of

Olives and he's going to enter through

the eastern gate.

Do you know what these are?

These are Muslim gravestones.

Uh they're so afraid of the Jewish

Messiah and the Christian Messiah coming

through this. Their idea was let's cover

and this whole hillside is is is grave

to try to block the coming Messiah.

Why would the devil do that if Jesus

wasn't actually going to come through

that gate?

I stood there overwhelmed

knowing that my Jesus, I looked up to

the sky and I knew that my Jesus is

going to come out of that sky right

there and step down and put his feet on

the ground right there and he's going to

walk right over these graves and right

demolish that stone and he's going to

walk right back into his city. Amen.

>> [applause]

>> It's not just my Messiah,

not just my savior, but it's also the

savior

of all mankind,

the savior of the Jewish people. And the

Bible says on that day, the Jews eyes

will be opened, the veil will be pulled

back, and they will see clearly that

this Jesus is the one that they've been

waiting for.

of that moment Jesus

bind up the enemy

for all eternity. I'm not teaching

esquetology. There's some things that

happened there.

And that we get to spend eternity with

him in a new heavens and a new earth

with a new Jerusalem.

I walked around. It could use

refurbished.

Let's stand to our feet all over this

house. I'm going to ask the worship team

to join me up here.

I started with a story about Rebecca.

I think you're Rebecca.

I think I'm Rebecca.

I think that the DNA test is in

and we're actually part of the real

bloodline.

The shoe box has been opened

and our heritage has been seen.

We're not an accident.

We were planned for

and chosen

and grafted into the bloodline of God.

So we stand firm on the promises of God.

We feed daily from his provision and we

press through every persecution.

So, Father, we thank you, Lord, for this

day that you've made for us.

Father, I thank you for tearing back the

veil of our eyes to see the family that

we're actually a part of.

Father, I thank you Lord that you saw us

a lost people,

a wild branch,

Gentiles.

Father, we're thankful that through

Jesus Christ, you made room for us, that

you've grafted us in. And Father,

we thank you for it. We love you for it.

Father, we're thankful that we're not

illegitimate.

But Lord, you've given us a spirit by

which we cry, "Aba, Father."

So Lord, bless your people. I pray in

Jesus name. And God's people said,

"Amen. [music]

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Heat. Heat. [music]

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