Hope in the Heat of Conflict
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Introduction:
Introduction:
This Morning’s Events — U.S. Strikes on Iranian Nuclear Sites
This Morning’s Events — U.S. Strikes on Iranian Nuclear Sites
Around 7:00 p.m. ET on June 21 (which was approximately 11:00 p.m. UTC, early June 22 in Tehran/Middle East time), President Trump announced that U.S. forces had launched precision strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites—Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan .
The strikes reportedly involved a B‑2 stealth bomber dropping multiple bunker-buster bombs on Fordo, along with around 30 Tomahawk missiles targeting Natanz and Isfahan .
In a televised address from the White House, the president declared the operation a “spectacular military success,” claiming the sites were “completely and totally obliterated” .
Iranian officials quickly condemned the attacks as a “grave violation” of international law and stated that the country had “all options open” in response .
Timeline Summary
Timeline Summary
June 21, ~7 p.m. ET / June 22, ~11 p.m. UTC → U.S. bombs Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Immediately after → Global diplomatic alarm, Iran vows strong retaliation, U.S. conducts Pentagon briefings early Sunday morning.
Why this Matters for Believers:
Why this Matters for Believers:
Anxiety is rising—across political lines, social media, and even in the Church.
There is confusion about the believer’s position in geopolitical conflicts.
There is deep debate about Israel’s role—in Scripture, prophecy, and present reality.
We won’t feed fear. We’ll follow Jesus.
We’ll open our Bibles, not just our news apps.
We won’t pick sides in politics—we’ll take the side of the Kingdom.
1. God is not surprised…
1. God is not surprised…
Crisis doesn’t shake God—it reveals His sovereignty.
We don’t interpret Scripture through headlines—we interpret headlines through Scripture.
25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.”
27 This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
I would suggest to you this morning that in times of crisis, times of war, times of uncertainty, what we are experiencing is a time of shaking…
But the writer of Hebrews goes on to say…
28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
29 for our God is a consuming fire.
The kingdom we are citizens in is unshakable… it cannot be shaken, it cannot be overthrown…
The king still sits on the throne, He was not elected, He cannot be impeached, and He will never retire!
We only have one King and He is the king of kings, the lord of lords, the beginning and the end, the first and the last and His name is the Word of God…
In a time when everything else is uncertain, we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken, a hope that never ends!
The shaking of nations is not a threat to the believer, it’s a call to attention.
1 Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then He will speak to them in His anger
And terrify them in His fury, saying,
6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
Don’t think for a moment, God is surprised or caught off guard. He sits on the throne and laughs when the nations rage…
He knew how it would turn out before it ever started…
Jesus said…
6 “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.
7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.
8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
No, God is not surprised, and neither should we be… The nations will rage, but God has determined the outcome…
In fact, His determination didn’t happen with the events of yesterday. He determined the end before the beginning ever started…
Thousands of years ago, before Israel was ever a nation He gave Abraham this promise:
1 Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
2. God’s Plan still includes Israel
2. God’s Plan still includes Israel
There has been much rhetoric about the support of Israel and I want to clarify a few things for you…
Support for Israel is a misnomer.
Notice what the scripture says here: (re-read v. 3)
BLESS and CURSE, not support or not support…
The word for blessing here means to invoke God and ask for a blessing, to adore or celebrate…
The word for cursing here means to despise or reckon lightly, to diminish with word or deed..
In other words, by praying for Israel, praying God’s favor on Israel, praying for Peace in Israel, praying for peace in the Middle East, is blessing Israel, and we can do this whether we agree with their political landscape or not…
For example, when Israel was straying from God in the Old Testament, many of the prophets spoke against their decisions and demanded repentance on behalf of God and this was still in line with blessing Israel because they wanted what was best for Israel…
In the same way, the church today can stand with Israel in prayer while declaring the righteousness, justice, grace, and mercy of God in the midst of the political chaos reigning in the middle east…
Israel is not just a people, but a place… (re-read v. 1)
Many people are fine with blessing the bloodline of Abraham, so long as they don’t have to pray for the land God assigned for them.
Beginning with this scripture and going on through the Old Testament, the territory of Israel is designated by God and included in the call for blessing.
Again, blessing in the sense I’ve already mentioned…
This is important because there are promises in the scriptures about a time where God will regather Israel:
24 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.
25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
28 “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
11 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again recover the second time with His hand
The remnant of His people, who will remain,
From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath,
And from the islands of the sea.
12 And He will lift up a standard for the nations
And assemble the banished ones of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
Israel’s calling still stands as a promise before the throne of God, given to Abraham… Rom 11:1-5
1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.”
4 But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.
I believe that until Jesus comes again, God will preserve a remnant that He will gather together again in their fullness when the day arrives that they are to be saved…
25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
27 “This is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;
29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Israel has a distinct role in God’s end-time plan, especially regarding salvation and the return of Christ.
Blessing Israel is not political endorsement; it is recognition of God’s redemptive timeline.
3. God’s Plan Includes the Church
3. God’s Plan Includes the Church
That means YOU!
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
We are not commentators, we are commissioned…
We do not take sides in war - we take the side of Heaven’s Kingdom in the earth…
Blessing Israel doesn’t mean blind approval, it means we pray for peace, stand for truth, and love all people as He first loved us…
In a divided world, the Church must be united. United in truth. United in grace. United in mission.
We operate from Victory, not Fear…
We operate from Victory, not Fear…
We are not a reactionary people - we are a redeemed people…
The church is not a bunker to hide out in, but a beacon that shines with the hope of eternity…
Fear is not our fuel, HOPE IS.
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled…”
This wasn’t a command just for when the world is stable, but when all hell is breaking loose and chaos is reigning… LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED…
Not because of any earthly security, but because He is sovereign and His plan will come to pass!
Faith is not denying fear, it’s declaring who is Lord over it…
The Church Must Learn to Listen…
The Church Must Learn to Listen…
In a world full of shouting, the Spirit-empowered Church must be slow to speak and quick to listen…
19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
2 A fool does not delight in understanding,
But only in revealing his own mind.
5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
The world doesn’t need any more angry broadcasts - it needs Spirit Led conversations…
Our job is to listen with compassion, speak with clarity, and respond with conviction rooted in Christ
Jesus didn’t win people by shouting louder - He listened, then spoke with truth and love and authority…
We don’t bring light to the world by arguing more - we bring it by shining brighter…
4. We have a Prophetic Hope and Eternal Security…
4. We have a Prophetic Hope and Eternal Security…
Scripture tells us that there will be rising conflict, particularly centered around Israel and the nations surrounding her:
6 “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.
7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.
8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Ezekiel 38-39 describes a coalition from the North that attacks Israel, but God defends His people…
Zechariah 14 tells of Jerusalem under seige, but it climaxes with the physical return of Jesus who sets foot on the Mount of Olives to fight for His people…
1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.
2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.
3 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.
4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.
These aren’t signs of despair, they are signposts of redemption because one of these days we will see what John saw in Revelation 19:
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.
13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.
16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Call worship team
The end of the story is not Chaos, it’s Christ’s reign…
We are not headed toward destruction; we are headed toward restoration…
There may be war in the Middle East, but the Lamb will return one day as the Lion of Judah and HE WILL REIGN!
Prophecy doesn’t point us to panic, it points us to a king!
The believer’s role is not fear, but a faithful expectation and gospel urgency…
When the world is on fire, we shine brighter - not because we are better, but because we belong to the One who holds the future in His hand!
Response:
Here’s what I want us to do today: Let us pray for Peace in Jerusalem and throughout the middle east:
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
Let’s pray for the salvation of Jews and Gentiles alike
1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
Let’s pray for wisdom for the Church in times of chaos and confusion.
And finally, let’s pray for courage to stand on Scripture not speculation…
I want to end with this reminder, the scripture that we started with:
28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
29 for our God is a consuming fire.
