 Chapter three, this message is part four of the series, Israel, Iran, and the Rising Storm. This is the final part of it, although I want you to be aware of that this coming week, if you don't follow us on our social media platforms, they are at the Radiant City. So the Radiant City, you can jump on Instagram, Facebook, and elsewhere. And then mine is Lee Cummings. So if you just look that up as well, this next week, I'm going to be answering some questions about Bible prophecy and this series because we've had a lot of questions. And so now that we're kind of bringing it in for a landing, I wanna be able to answer some questions, but I will warn you, I can't promise that some of these same themes aren't gonna bleed into the next series because I really feel like this is important stuff for us to gain a grasp of and to understand, especially in the days in which we're living in. But I've entitled this installment of this series, Responding to the Storm. Responding to the storm. How should we respond to everything that we know, that the Bible tells us about the days in which we're living in, that we're witnessing right before our eyes, and that we anticipate and know as believers these things that are gonna come into our future. How do we prepare? How do we respond? So I'm gonna begin by reading the words from 2 Peter chapter three, beginning in verse number nine. Peter the apostle said, "'The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise "'as some count slowness, "'but is patient toward you, "'not wishing that any should perish "'but that all should reach repentance. "'But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, "'and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, "'and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, "'and the earth and the works that are done on it "'will be exposed.'" Verse 11, "'Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, "'what sort of people ought you to be "'in lives of holiness and godliness? "'Waiting for and hastening "'the coming of the day of God "'because of which the heavens will be set on fire "'and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies "'will melt as they burn. "'But according to his promise, "'we are waiting for the new heavens "'and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.'" This last week I was in Dallas for a couple of days, and I had the privilege of being invited to record some programs on Daystar Network. For those of you who are familiar with Daystar, it's a Christian television station. And I was on a panel with several other leaders talking about Israel, the war in Gaza, Bible prophecy, where things are going. And I was sitting in the green room with a couple of these leaders, and one of them happened to be a well-known leader in the Messianic communities, a believer in Yeshua. He comes from a Jewish family, he's very well known. And we were talking about anti-Semitism and Jew hatred that we have witnessed since October the 7th that has really demonstrated all over the globe. And he made a statement, he says, "'I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. "'I can't imagine how I could ever get worse.'" And I mentioned that because that was on Tuesday, and since Tuesday, I've seen it get worse. Let me explain to you. In 1938 in Germany, November the 9th and the 10th to be exact, something that became known as crystal knocked or the night of broken glass occurred under Hitler's sway and under the Third Reich's regime. On one night in Germany, Jewish homes, hospitals and schools all across Germany and Austria were ransacked, vandalized and destroyed. 267 synagogues were destroyed in one night. 7,000 Jewish businesses were shut down and destroyed in Germany in one night. 30,000 Jewish men were rounded up, arrested, and shipped off to concentration camps, never to be seen again in one night. 90 Jews were murdered in their homes that night with many more committing suicide because of despair and hopelessness and fear over what was taking place in Germany. And this all happened under the supervision of the German people and even the German government. Crystal knocked became the precursor and the lead up to the final solution in which 6.5 million, I want that to sink in, 6.5 million, literally 50% of the Jewish population in Europe was murdered in a window of four years. And you say, well, that's awful. Well, you're right. Crystal knock November the 10th was being commemorated this last week. And on Friday, November the 10th, 2023, while a group of Jewish citizens of the United States and some Holocaust survivors were commemorating this day at their synagogue in Florida, protestors dressed in Hamas gear, wearing Palestinian war scarves, gathered across the street from the synagogue to intimidate these Jewish people. And we're literally chanting and crying out, we wish we were in Gaza so that we could kill you ourselves. You think, well, that's an isolated incident. No, on the anniversary, the 85th anniversary of Crystal knock in London, the largest pro Hamas and Palestinian protest in the UK's history, 600,000 Muslims, pro Hamas, Palestinians, as well as sympathizers gathered on London Bridge chanting from the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free. And then shifted over to synagogues where they set off smoke bombs in front of synagogues where people were commemorating and praying, holding up signs that had an intertwined swastika with a star of David and assaulted people, one individual saying this face to face to a Jewish person who was out there trying to reason with them. He said this, quote, Hitler knew how to deal with you people. In New York City, on the anniversary of Crystal knocked. On November 10th, protesters gathered once again in Times Square, here in our nation's largest city and took down American flags and replaced them with Palestinian flags. In our same city, on the same day, the United Nations, the same United Nations, which by the way is a joke, but the United Nations that after October 7th, the bloodiest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust could not muster two thirds of a majority of a vote to condemn the attacks of Hamas against innocent civilians in Israel. The very same UN on the anniversary, the 85th anniversary of this dark day in Germany wrote out eight resolutions condemning the nation of Israel. On November the 11th, just yesterday and the day before because of time zones in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 22 of the Arab League nations gathered together along with 30 other primarily Muslim nations to condemn Israel and to discuss actions that could be taken to cut off Israel from the rest of the world. And this picture that we have are the Arab nations that gather together. Here's what's eerie about this picture. Is every single one of the leaders represented in this picture also represent the individual nations listed in Ezekiel's prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 38 when it prophesies that all the nations of the surrounding areas will one day under the leadership of Gog of Magog will march into Israel from the north and to cities that are unwalled and people that are not expecting it and will invade that country as a confederation of the anti-Christ armies. All of those nations listed written 2,500 years ago are represented in this picture. One of those leaders, the Turkish president from Turkey the former Ottoman Islamic Caliphate said this at the meeting. He said, quote, what is urgent in Gaza is not pauses for a few hours rather we need a permanent ceasefire he added. We cannot put Hamas resistors defending their homeland in the same category as the Israeli occupiers. In other words, Hamas is innocent, Israel is guilty. And then lastly, there's the statement of the put this picture up of the Iran diplomat, the Iranian diplomat, Iranian foreign minister threatens Israel and says, quote, expansion of the scope of the war has now become inevitable. We are in America used to two week news cycles and then we get bored with something as if world events are a Netflix special that we've watched and now have taken out of our queue and we wanna move on to something else. Can I just tell you that we might wanna move on but can I just tell you that the surrounding nations have not decided to move on because they have not accomplished their goal. They're not looking for a two state solution. They're looking for a final solution. They're looking for the expulsion and the extermination of the Jewish nation. There's not room for a Jewish nation in the land because the problem is not geopolitical. The problem is spiritual and it is Jew hatred. It is the spirit of anti-Semitism. 2023 is starting to look a lot like a playback of 1938. And we need to be fully aware of it that the problem is no longer just a German problem. It's now a global problem. And my question is, and I'm speaking to the church of America, not just radiant church but I'm speaking to pastors, speaking to Christians across this nation and I'm asking this question, where are the Bonhoeffers in this generation? Where are the Dietrich Bonhoeffers? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor, a leader, a theologian in Hitler's Third Reich Germany who left Germany and came to the United States to teach but then moved back to Germany in the heat of all the persecution of the Jewish people to awaken the church, the confessing church in Germany to what was going on, calling them, you have to speak up. You have to take a stand of what is happening. Silence is complicity. We cannot be silent. We must stand. And my question is, where are the Bonhoeffers? Where is the confessing church in America? Where are those leaders who will courageously stand up and defend the Jewish people in the face of calls for their removal from their ancestral and covenantal homelands and their ultimate extermination? Where are those leaders who will not be satisfied with during church as usual, who will resist the spirit of a Haman that is stoking the fury of both Herod, Nero, Hitler and once again, flooding now in the streets of not just Germany but Western civilization and all across America and on social media and on TikTok and taking captive an entire generation whose mind has been captivated by nothing but ancient hatred. The only solution for an ancient hatred is the love of the ancient of days. And that's what we need and that's not gonna happen unless God raises up Bonhoeffers in our day in our generation. Where are those who will stand up and where are those pastors who will not ignore the rising storm? I'm speaking to pastors across America and I'm saying pastors, you have to teach the Bible. You cannot avoid prophecy. You cannot avoid God's love for the Jewish people. What they taught you in seminary when they said the church replaced Israel was a demonic lie. God's promises are yes and amen. He is faithful and the gifts and the callings of God are without reproach. It's time for you to go back to the foundations and to preach the Bible. Many pastors have kept quiet and refused to speak out against what is happening because they're intimidated. It's because they're afraid. It's because they've been threatened. It's because the rabid demonic spirit that is instigating this persecution of the Jews all around the world doesn't necessarily apply to us because we've got Gentile skin on. But I remind you of a individual in Germany who refused to speak out until it was too late. His name was Martin Niemoller. He's the one who famously said that first they came for the socialists but I did not speak out because I'm not a socialist. And then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I am not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I'm not a Jew. And then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me. He died in a Nazi concentration camp and I'm speaking to the church of America and I'm speaking to Gentiles. I'm speaking to people who may think that this is far removed from you. I'm not a trade unionist. I'm not Jewish. I'm not living in Israel. Gaza is not my neighbor. How does this apply to me? I want to just speak to the body of Christ and say, church, we are living in an Esther moment. We are living in an Esther 4.13 and 14 moment. And if you don't know what that moment was, it was a moment when Mordecai, the Jew, came to Esther who had become the queen of the Persian empire, modern day Iran. And he said, it's time for you Esther to put it all out on the line and to risk your life to have an audience before the king to serve, to save the Jews from extermination under the spirit of Haman. And Esther realized the price that it would cost. And Mordecai said to her, this is your moment if you refuse to do this, relief and deliverance will come from another source. God will deliver his people. But if you don't do it, don't you dare think that you are going to be safe from the persecution that comes because you dwell in a king's cabinet room. He said, perhaps Esther, you have been brought into the kingdom of God for such a time as this. And I want to say to us, Radiant Church, and I want to say to the church of America of which we are a part of, this is an Esther moment that we are in. It is a pivotal moment. It is a moment for us to pray. It is a moment for us to stand and to support the Jewish people and the nation of Israel at this particular time. God's going to deliver his people. God is going to fulfill every promise that he has made. But I want you to know it is no accident that you are alive on planet earth right now because God has mandated and God has ordained you to be alive to be a part of what he is doing at the end of the age. And it requires us to awaken and seize this moment. We have been brought into the kingdom of God for such a time as this. And it begs the question, how then shall we live? If all of this is true, how then shall we live? What difference should this make? You know, one of the criticisms that I have had over the years of Bible prophecy teachers. And I love studying Bible prophecy. I've not probably taught on it over the 27 years of pastoring this church near as much as I should have. But it's been an area of study for me for many, many, many years. But one of the criticism I've had of many Bible teachers is that as we teach it, there's a tendency for people to shift into an escapist mentality instead of an engagement mentality. It's like we get into this mentality that, oh, Jesus is coming, so let's just hunker down and wait for the rapture and we're out of here. Well, many people may be surprised when the rapture doesn't happen when you think it's going to. And you find yourself experiencing the rising storm, not just on the pages of the latest and the greatest Bible prophecy book, but it's actually happening in your life. And I think God wants us to, Jesus in reference to his coming, he said, when the Son of Man returns to the earth, will he find faith? In other words, God doesn't want us hunkered down. Jesus said, do business, occupy until I come. In other words, we don't know the day or the hour. We don't know when Jesus is coming. I believe we are quickly accelerating and drawing near to that day. But even if it doesn't, our mandate is not to pull back, it's to engage and it's to make sure that our hearts are filled with faith. How then shall we live? Peter that we just read, an apostle, a Jewish apostle, of a Jewish Messiah who was sent into the nations of the world and Peter would have his life taken from him in Rome by the Roman emperor by crucifying him upside down for the name of Jesus. Writes two Christians in the midst of one of the most difficult seasons of the church. These words that we just read, but he starts by asking in verse number 11, since all of these things are gonna be dissolved. In other words, all of these things, we know that the world that we're in is temporal, we know that we're speeding towards the return of the Lord, the King, and that he's gonna make all things that are wrong right, he's gonna bring his kingdom. What sort of people ought we to be? That's an amazing question for us this morning. What kind of people should we be as the church? What kind of lives should we live? In other words, how should we respond to what we know? This is key and this is what I feel the Lord is speaking to the church. You know, there are sometimes when you preach a message and it's for the fold, it's for the sheep that God has given to you and there are other times where God will, as a preacher, God will anoint you or God will call you to speak something that's broader than that. And I believe that there's a prophetic mantle that God is releasing right now to awaken the church to the hour in which we are living in. That when we see everything shaken, we would be stirred. We would be stirred with zeal and we will ask the question, what kind of life should I be living? This isn't just entertainment. This isn't the latest Marvel movie. This is reality. The kingdom of God is coming. Birth pangs are shaking the planet. The spirit of Antichrist is at work and the spirit of God is at work. Which side of this line do I wanna live my life on? Do I wanna fall under a Luke 21 spirit of dissipation and drunkenness by the spirit of this age? Or do I wanna be in a Joel 2 outpouring of the Holy Spirit where God promises in the last days I'm gonna pour my spirit out on all flesh and your men and your women, your young and your old, your rich and your poor, your free and your slave are gonna be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and prophesy even in the midst of the great and the terrible day of the Lord. I don't wanna be drunk on the wine of this present age. I wanna be filled with the Holy Spirit. My eyes fully alert, fully awake, following Jesus. This is what Jesus says in Mark chapter 13. Verse 32 through 30, 70 says, but of that day and hour no one knows not even angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. And listen, take heed, watch and pray. That's what Jesus said, take heed, watch and pray for you do not know when the time is. It's like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to each his own work. And he commanded the doorkeeper to watch. That's the church to watch. And then he says in verse 35, watch therefore for you do not know when the master of the house is coming in the evening at midnight or at the crowing of the rooster in the morning. Last coming suddenly, he finds you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all, watch, stay awake. When Peter says, how should we therefore live or what kind of lives should we live? There's three things I want you to consider this morning of how we should respond to what is happening on the face of the earth. I wanna reiterate to you that every single time you see on the news what's happening in Israel, I want you to know it's way more than political, it's spiritual. And when you see protests and marchers in the streets and hatred and anger on their faces, I want you to be reminded that there is a spiritual foundation underlying all of it. We don't wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. If you've ever wanted to see evidence of a spiritual battle, just look at what is taking place. And then respond by asking yourself, these three things. Number one, am I examining myself and the way that I'm living? This is what it means to respond. We must examine the way we're living our lives. This is what Jesus means when he says, take heed, watch and pray. It literally, that phrase, take heed, it means run, it's the equivalent of like running an x-ray over yourself. When the Bible says examine yourself of whether you're in the faith, this is what it means. Jesus is saying, take heed to yourself, watch and live a lifestyle of devotion and prayer. Peter says it's living lives that are rooted in holiness and godliness. What does holiness mean? Well, holiness means to be set apart, dedicated to the service of God. Godliness means devotion and the aim and the direction of our lives. Church, I want you to know this is not a time for your relationship with God to be joint custody. We don't need a part-time heavenly father and we don't need a Sunday savior. We need 100% absolute surrender and total devotion to the Lord. Even more so now as we see his arrival and his soon coming. We need to be set apart, dedicated to the service of God, not demanding that God is set apart to the service of us. We need to be examining our lives. Like, am I living in such a way that if Jesus came today, I would be joyful to stand before him. I'm not talking about a works-based salvation. I'm not talking about you earning your way to heaven. I'm talking about rewards and I'm talking about us fulfilling the call and the purpose on our lives. One of the greatest lies in the American dream is that Jesus saved you so you could just live your life and we treat this life like an airport terminal and we know that our flight is in three, four hours and so we're just kind of shopping around the airport, wasting time, scrolling on our devices, waiting for that departure. And we just think that whatever we do, we're saved and we're gonna go to heaven someday and right now it doesn't matter what we do with our lives. That's a lie of the enemy. We are called to live our lives in holiness and godliness. In other words, God examine me and see if there's any wicked way on the inside of me. The things, the weight and the hindrances that I used to tolerate and put up with, I need to bring to the foot of the cross and lay it down. Say, Jesus, no more. Because I know that that thing that starts in a seed is gonna grow into a weed and it's gonna culminate in a deed and I'm gonna end up far away from you. It's like one degree of separation can move me into a place that I don't wanna go, God. I wanna live a life of holiness. Church, I'm watching leaders that I've loved and respected, many leaders over the course of the last few years are falling away and their sin is being exposed. I would rather fall on the rock and receive mercy than to have the rock of judgment fall on me and be ground into dust. It's time for us to live right before God because everything that's done in darkness is going to be exposed by the light. And I'm not saying that, like, man, I'm throwing stones, I want you to know in humility, I just wanna love God and finish strong. And I know that the only way for any of us, pastor, parishioner, any individual to do that is gonna require us to have humility before God and to actually take heed to ourselves because if we won't take heed to ourselves, the enemy will deceive us. Listen, it's right here in Luke 21. Jesus says in Luke 21, 24, but watch yourselves lest you and your hearts get weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life. And that day comes upon you suddenly like a trap. Peter's telling us, look, this is what you, as we see the end of the age approaching. And there's gonna be scoffers that are gonna come in the last days saying, when's he coming? I've had it on social media. I've had so much fun on social media recently. I've been called everything. I've been ridiculed and I've actually enjoyed it because Jesus said, blessed are you when men speak evil of you. I'm going, come on, baby, just keep adding it up. Just keep adding it up. I can just chiching, chiching, chiching, chiching. I'm like, you countin' that, Jesus? He's like, oh yeah, bigot, chiching. Idiot, chiching, dumb, chiching. I'm just like, hmm, glory. But I'm just like scoffers. So many people who are like, yeah, you're, where's this coming? Where's this coming? It starts by saying that God is slow and he's patient. Why? Because he doesn't want anyone to perish. The world oughta be glad I'm not God because I would have come back a long time ago and flaming vengeance. I'm like, God, how loving are you that you will allow the world to do what they do and shake their fist in your face? And yet God's like, it's because I love him. It's because I don't want them to be separated from me for eternity. That's sobering to us to say, God, I don't want to be deluded. I don't want the cares of this life that are temporal, that are dissolving, that are passing away. I don't want those things to dominate me. I want to be dominated by a kingdom perspective which leads to number two. It's not only examining the way that we're living but what are we waiting for? Waiting, I'm not talking like we're on pause. I'm talking about what are we looking for? What is the end goal? What's the aim of our life? So many people are looking for a utopia, the world to get better, waiting on the world to change because we believe that human beings are essentially just good and if we got law enforcement or we got this policy or we got these group of people out of the way, man, we could just build ourselves a good old tower of babble with our name on it and make a name for ourselves and we could build it up into the heavens in a utopian society. But that's never gonna happen. Some of us are waiting on getting to the top of the success letter where our name is in lights and our 401k is fully funded and divested and we become successful and we have everything that we want. Some of us are waiting on our big break to become famous, to have enough followers, to have our song sung, to have our sermons listened to, to have our artwork sold to whatever the case might be. What are we waiting on? We're waiting for our relationship that's gonna make us happy, that's gonna satisfy. We're waiting on our soulmate. We're waiting on all these things but yet the Bible says, no, I want you to wait urgently anticipating the day of the Lord. Listen to these words in Titus chapter two. It says, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in this present age, waiting for, here it is, waiting for the blessed hope and the appearing and the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Who gave himself to redeem us from the lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Church, we have to live our lives in such a way that we are anticipating and living our lives with a sense of urgency that Jesus is returning. Now, he might not come in our lifetime but I would rather live my life as if he is coming in my lifetime and then stand before him in heaven when I die someday than to live my life like Jesus says not to where we are taken by surprise and it's like a snare that happens because we thought we had all this time. And we thought, oh, it's never gonna happen. Oh, and it's just life's gonna go on and history's gonna happen because listen, if I live my life like Jesus could come back tomorrow, I'm gonna live with a sense of kingdom urgency and here's what I know that if I believe he's coming tomorrow, I'm gonna invest my time talent and treasures into things that matter. But if I'm living like he's not coming back for a million years, then I'm gonna wait and I'm gonna live my life getting sucked into the things of this world. And then we have this mentality, I've had so many people say, well, you know what, I just wanna live in the world. I wanna see what the world has to offer. And then when I get old and I'm like 90 years old, then I'm gonna get it right with God. Can I just tell you there is no such thing as premeditated repentance. You don't get to premeditate and set a reminder on your calendar for 2057, get right with God today. By the time you get to 2057, you've had countless thousands of days of the devil hardening your heart, trapping you in your sin, blinding your eyes, stealing from you your destiny, stealing from you your impact. We need to live our lives today waiting for the return of the Lord in number three, hastening the day of the Lord. This is how we respond, hastening the day of the Lord. It's controversial because people will say, do you really believe that you can hasten? What does it mean to hasten? It means hurry up, speed up. And verse 12 says waiting for and hastening the coming of the Lord. I looked up the Greek word for hasten and it means hasten, which means, let me give this to you. There are certain things you and I can do by the way we live our lives that actually speeds up and accelerates the return of Jesus. I don't know about you, but I can't wait for him to come back. I'm longing for his return. Oh, what a good, what a glorious day that's gonna be when we see him. Can you imagine the Bible says when he comes back, he's coming back from fiery judgment on his enemies, but he's coming to be glorified in those who are waiting and looking for him. Man, when he comes back, drop everything. Caught up in the air, glorified, meet him, return to the earth as an army to reign and to rule with him. Somebody said, do you believe in pre, mid, and post? I'm like, well, I gotta, I believe it's at the end, but I'll tell you what, I'm not gonna argue if he comes early. I'm not pulling out my prophecy chart going, you're not supposed to be back yet. No, when he cracks that eastern sky, I'm meeting him in the air. But there are certain things that we, as the church, can do to hasten the return of the Lord because there are certain things that have to happen before Jesus comes back. What are those things? Number one is the Great Commission will be fulfilled before Jesus returns. Matthew 24, verse 14, Jesus himself said, this gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the whole world, to every ethnic group, and then the end will come. So what does that mean? It means when Jesus comes, there will not be one person without excuse because every small people group, every language on every continent and every nation will have a witness for the gospel. Today, there are 3.2 billion people that do not have access to the gospel out of 8 billion. We are a unique generation. We are the first generation in history that has two things. We're the first generation in history to see prophecy fulfilled before our eyes, Israel become a nation in 1948, Jerusalem come under their control in 1967, and we begin to see God bringing the dispersion back from the North, South, East and West, back into the land. That's never happened. It's always been anticipated. We're witnessing it in our day, but we're also the same generation that has the capability and the technology and travel and resources to actually fulfill the Great Commission in one generation. Think about that. We could see it happen in our day. Can you imagine if we got a notification that says Great Commission fulfilled? It's going to happen in our generation, but it's not gonna happen if we don't engage with it. That's why we do the big give. We're not doing it because we're a charitable organization. We're doing it because we are the body of Jesus, the carriers of the good news, ambassadors for Christ, who've been given not a Great Commission, but only one commission by our Lord and Savior to do until He comes, which is to go into all the world and to preach the gospel to the Jew first and then to everybody else until every single person has heard and then the end will come. How do we speed up His return? We get the job done. Church, it's time for us to get the job done. Number two, what else has to happen? How can we hasten the day? We as the church come into a state of maturity. Ephesians chapter four says, He's giving apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry until we come into a mature man and in the fullness of the stature of who Christ is. In other words, Jesus is coming back for a mature church, a mature church that's looking for Him that we're anticipating and longing for Him. And then number three, here's how we hasten the day of the Lord. These things have to happen. The Jewish people are going to receive their Messiah. I'm gonna read this and I preached a message last year on this, but Romans chapter 11, Paul's very clear, very explicit. He says, so I ask you, did they Israel? Did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means, rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles. So as to make Israel jealous, now if their trespass means riches for the world and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? How many of you know that means they're getting included back in? Verse 13, it says, now I'm speaking to you as Gentiles. And then verse 15 says, for if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean? Accept life back from the dead. And then jump down to verse 25. It says, lest you be wise in your own sight, I don't want you to be unaware of this mystery. What's the mystery? A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles. That's us, has come in and in this way all of Israel shall be saved. So what does that mean? You and I are the Gentiles. God's taken the gospel to the nations of the world. That's us. I'm 3% Jewish, but 97% Gentile. But I'm claiming that 3% every single day. But he says that this gospel is gonna go to all the Gentiles until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And then it says, and then all of Israel's gonna be saved, they're gonna be included back in. Just as Jesus was dead for three days and rose again, just as God has restored the nation of Israel after 2,000 years, brought them back into the land, after 2,000 years, the Jewish people are going to have their eyes opened during the storm of the tribulation to see their Messiah. And there is gonna be an unprecedented revival of the Jewish people to believe in Yeshua and be included back into the people of God. And it's gonna happen at the end of the age. And I believe we will see it with our very own eyes. And we have a part to play in it, to pray for it. And as Paul says, to provoke them under jealousy, how do we provoke them under jealousy? Sadly enough, during church history, the Christian church persecuted the Jewish people just like we're seeing all over the face of the world right now. And there's so many of our dear Jewish friends and family that believe, that to believe in Yeshua as Messiah means to side with those who persecuted our people. And I wanna look at the camera. I wanna say to every Jewish person, we're sorry, forgive us, we love you and we're praying for you. And we want to do whatever it takes to see you receive the love and the gift that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has given when he sent his son into the earth to not just be our savior, but your savior as well. I believe that in our generation, we're going to see a revival of unprecedented proportion among the Jewish people. And it's gonna be by and large because the church in its darkest hour, when protests and haters and anti-Semitism is pouring out like water over the globe, there's gonna be a mature church full of the power of the Holy Spirit, eyes focused on their returning king, Bible filling their heart, prayer like oil in their lamps that is standing to defend and standing to love and to protect the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. And in one moment, the hardening that's been in part is gonna be pulled off and we're gonna see them look up into the heavens and say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And they're gonna believe in their savior. I wanna end this series by reading to you the lyrics to a hymn that was found in Charles Hayden Spurgeon's own personal hymnal. This is a song that was written in 1795. But I love the message of this. It's our prayer as we end this. It says, arm of the Lord, thy power extend. Let Muhammad's imposture end. Break papal superstitions chains and the proud scoffers rage restrain. Let Zion's time of favor come. O bring the tribes of Israel home and let our wondering eyes behold Gentiles and Jews in Jesus' fold. Almighty God, thy grace proclaim in every climb of every name. Let adverse powers before thee fall and crown the savior, Lord of all. Let this be our prayer church and the hour in which the storm is increasing because when it's all said and done, we serve the one who speaks the storms and says peace, be still. I want you to stand with me wherever you are today. The question I would ask you is the same question that the apostle Peter asked and it was this. What kind of life should we live? In light of the fact that everything in this world is temporary and it's dissolving. Our fashions are dissolving. Everything in the physical cosmos is dying but yet the kingdom of God is eternal. What kind of life should we be living? And here's a better question. What are the things right now in our lives that need to change in order to live lives of godliness and holiness so we're ready? Are we ready to meet the Lord? Today I want to ask you that, are you ready? You may be a Christian but the Holy Spirit is moving on you already, convicting you of things that you need to adjust and shift. Priorities that you need to reorganize. Sin that you need to lay down to be ready. This is not a dress rehearsal. This is the real thing because life matters. Eternity is forever. You may be here today and listening to me and the sound of my voice and broadcast. And you have not repented and asked Jesus to be your Lord and savior. I'm not talking about believing in God. Believing in God doesn't save you. It doesn't give you eternal life. I'm not talking about you trying harder. Your best effort is not enough. I'm talking about you receiving the gift of God's grace to forgive you and to give you a new heart and a new life for you to be born again because of what Jesus did on the cross for you that you could not do for yourself. It's surrendering and saying, Jesus for now on I serve you and I follow you. Today you may be a prodigal where you've prayed that kind of prayer but you've walked away. Today you need to come home. Today you may be listening to me and you've never done that. And the Bible says if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth, literally we need to confess it and surrender to make Jesus Lord we will be saved. Today, if you're not right with God, if you're not ready, today is the day of salvation. This is the moment. And with every head up and with every eye open and everybody looking around today, this is a sober eternal moment. If you say, pastor Lee, I know I'm not ready but today I'm saying, Jesus, I want you to be Lord of my life and I'm surrendering to you. You're either a prodigal and you're saying, I have had a relationship with Jesus but I've walked away and today I'm saying I'm coming home for real and I want to recommit my life or you've never made Jesus the Lord of your life today. You've never made Jesus Lord of your life ever but today you want to get right with God. I'm going to lead us in a prayer that's going to connect your heart to God but I want you to take a faith step and your faith step is this. If you know you need to get right with God and you want to accept Him as your personal Lord and savior, I want you wherever you're at to raise your hand and hold it up and I'm going to include you. We're going to pray together. Thank you. Raise it all over the room. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Come on, raise it. Thank you. All over the room. Come on, raise it high. Raise it high. Thank you. Thank you. Come on. Thank you, thank you. If you, keep it up, keep it up. Who else? This is the day of salvation. Thank you. See that hand all the way back there. Thank you. You can put your hands down. To everyone who called upon the name of the Lord, He gave the power to become children of God. So I'm going to lead us in a prayer on the whole room, everybody, all of our rooms, wherever you're at to say this prayer out loud. Say this with me. Say, Heavenly Father, I come in Jesus' name. And I know that you are Lord of all. And I believe that Jesus is your son, a savior of the world. And I believe that He died for me on the cross to pay my debt to give me life. And I believe that He was raised from the dead and that He's soon to return. Jesus, forgive me. Wash me clean. Come into my heart and be my Lord and savior. Fill me with your spirit and write my name in the book of life. From this day forward, I turn my back on the world. I turn my back on my past and I turn my back on the devil. I belong to Jesus. I have a destiny. And I will follow you because I am a child of God. Thank you for loving me, saving me in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen, amen, amen. Amen. Come on, amen. Amen. Amen. I had a Celsius and a Red Bull this morning. I'm on, whew. If you just prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of God. You are a brand new creation and we love you. I'm gonna invite our prayer team.