Rejection and Blindness

Welcome

Intro

Well it is good to be back with all of you this morning. I am so thankful for Pastor Rustan and Pastor Hannah. They always do an amazing job of taking care of our church community. I want to thank you all as well for supporting them and allowing for me to be gone for extended periods of time without worry.

I have been asked by so many how my trip to Israel was. I have been trying to come up with a good answer. You see this wasn’t a Holy Land Study trip. Although, I did experience many of the sites that we have been studying as we Journey through Matthew. This was a solidarity trip. An opportunity to step into the world of Israel, God’s chosen people. The ones He set apart for himself. As the Leader of our trip Bishop Robert Stearns put it “A Chance for the Followers of Jesus to meet the Cousins of Jesus.

I have really wrestled this week even into last night as news came that these United States of America entered the conflict. I have been up since 4:30 this morning and as I scanned X, Instagram, and Facebook I see a very broken and divided world.

Our Biggest problem I believe is too much one sided information. Truth has become a perspective only gained from one side of the argument and a lot of times without any personal experience.

This trip for me was a personal experience trip. There was a lot of propaganda that was thrown our way. There were a lot of opinions thrown our way. There was almost a fleeting hope of join our side involved in this trip.

When I arrived I felt this since from the Holy Spirit to look through the noise and see what God is doing.

I think the best quote of the trip was “Quit asking God to bless what you are doing and start asking Him to include you in what He is Doing.” Bishop Robert Stearns

So from the beginning of the trip until today I have been seeking to See What God is Doing and to get into the flow of that river.

To start out today I want to take you on a little Historical Journey.

Most of us learn in History that Israel became a State on May 14, 1948 as a result of the The United Nations feeling sorry for the Jews after the events of World War 2.

However, this story started way before that in fact it began 4,000 years ago when God told Abraham to get up and to go to a place He had prepared for Him.

Genesis 12:1–2 CSB

1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

God Makes a Three Fold Promise

God’s Promise: 1. Land, 2. Descendants, 3. Blessing to all Nations

Here is the first thing we need to understand. Even Though we have seen the rejection of Jesus by Israel in our study of Matthew this does not change who God is.

Galatians 3:17–18 CSB

17 My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.

Isaiah 49:15–16

Isaiah 49:15–16 CSB

15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

God made a Promise and God is a Promise Keeper

If we believe that God gave up on His promise to Israel because of disobedience than how can we trust Him not to Give Up on Us for our disobedience.

So we see that God made a covenant with Abraham

He reconfirms it 500 years later with Moses on Mount Sinai

David establishes Jerusalem as a United Israel approximately 500 years later.

We see God allow the Jews to be taken into captivity in 586 BC and the Temple is destroyed

We also see what a Reminant can do as we read in the Old Testament of Zerubbabel rebuilding the Second temple 515 BC

We See Jesus enter the the scene somewhere between 4 and 6 BC

Then the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and the Jews are dispersed.

But the story of their return to the Promised Land did not begin in 1948. God started doing something many years before that.

I want you to now see the Parallel Move of God that began happening in the Late 1800s. With both the Christians and the Jews.

In 1897 Theodore Herzl founded the modern Zionist Movement. You can read about Him on your own. However, he is the founder of the Idea of a Jewish State.

In 1909 a group of Jewish Settlers purchased 12 acres of Sand dunes north of Jaffa and reestablished Israels presence in the Promised Land.

Now check this out on 1895 the first Pentecostal Church was formed.

In 1906 the Azusa Street Revival began and the the Birth of the Pentecostal Movement started.

In 1914 the Assemblies of God was formed around two principles Evangelism and Missions.

At the same time God was bringing His chosen People Home to the Promised Land, He was equipping the Christian Church for the greatest Gospel Movement of all time.

May 14, 1948 Israel is reborn in One Day

Fulfilling Isaiah 66:8 “8 Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons.”

Isaiah 66:8 CSB

8 Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons.

1967 God would unite the Jewish people and Give them back Jerusalem in the 6 day war.

Israel is a Miracle.

Out of all Biblical Civilizations only one remains The Jews. There are no Philistines, Amorites, Persians, Greeks, or Romans. All Nations have disappeared except for the Jew.

I saw so many prophesies being fulfilled while I was there.

Ezekiels Vision of the Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14) is being fulfilled.

Bones scattered all over the world are making Aliyah

Aliyah: Means to Ascend but is used today for Immigrating home to Israel.

I met Jews from just about every place on Earth that had returned home and are fighting to keep Israel safe……….

I saw Hosea 2:14–15 “14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.”

Hosea 2:14–15 CSB

14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.

I met a couple who have spent the last 20 years turning the desert of Achor into a blooming orchard with so many fruits. They have seven children and have been foster parents to 100s of Israeli’s troubled kids.

2 miles from the Hamas Training facility and surrounded by hostility all around them they have created a sanctuary of hope.

It was like that everywhere I went. What was mostly a barren waste land 100 years ago is now a land flowing with milk and honey everywhere I went I could hear.

Deuteronomy 8:7–10 CSB

7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper. 10 When you eat and are full, you will bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

Along with all the other Pastor’s on the trip I struggled seeing that inspite of seeing a people who are seeking God’s Presence, creating space for His Presence, and restoring the spirituality of the Jewish People they still could not See Jesus as the Messiah that they are longing to see return.

At the Eastern Gate

At the Pool of Bethesda

Everywhere I went they knew the stories of Jesus but Could not accept that He was the Messiah.

So I prayed and I sought the wisdom of Rabbi Feldman.

He asked me a simple question that again caused me to wrestle. “ What are you wanting them to be saved from or to.”

Saved to look like us…..Not really they are more faithful than most of us…….

So I searched the scriptures and this is the direction I feel God is leading me.

Romans 9:1–5 CSB

1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises. 5 The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

God’s promise is still in Place.

Romans 10:1–5 CSB

1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation. 2 I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes, 5 since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.

But God has not forgotten or forsaken them

Romans 11:25–29 CSB

25 I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. 28 Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs, 29 since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.

I am not a doomsday Christian and I struggle with how confident some Christian Leaders are with their interpretation of end times prophecy but I can see something coming. I can see that Christs return is imminent.

I say Maranatha “ Come Quickly Lord”

Matthew 25 Tells us that

Matthew 21:18–19 CSB

18 Early in the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered.

and

Matthew 24:32–35 CSB

32 “Learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near—at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Fig tree has been tender and sprouting since 1948

A Biblical Generation is 100 years

We have seen a 100 years of The Gentiles being Gathered

So what do we do in this time.

We don’t fear or Fret.

I want to end today back in our study of Matthew.

Matthew 13:53–58 CSB

53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he left there. 54 He went to his hometown and began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? 55 Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? 56 And his sisters, aren’t they all with us? So where does he get all these things?” 57 And they were offended by him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.” 58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

Jesus just finished with the Parables so he goes home and is not welcomed…………

But what can we take away

Parable 1: Be Good Soil: Grow with Jesus

Be With Jesus

Parable 2: Resist the Enemy be the Wheat the Grows in the midst of the Weeds

Parable3: Be like the Mustard Seed and allow Christ to grow in you so that you become a place of rest.

Parable 4: Be like a the Christ that sells out over their salvation…….

Parable 5: Be a fish worth Keeping…..

and Finally Be like Jesus and move on from rejection…….

And as Psalms 122:6-9

Psalm 122:6–9 CSB

6 Pray for the well-being of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure; 7 may there be peace within your walls, security within your fortresses.” 8 Because of my brothers and friends, I will say, “May peace be in you.” 9 Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will pursue your prosperity.

Will you stand with me this morning

Be With Jesus, Become like Jesus, Do What Jesus Did………..