Sharing The Faith With Others

0:01 At this time, I wanna pray for Rabbi Ari as he gets ready to bless us with the word by the we come to you. We just thank you for your goodness and your mercy. We see this theme of generation to generation, and as this generation of rabbi stands before us today, father, I pray that we would shama, that we would listen and obey the word that goes forth, that we would be good witnesses. Father, let all of his preparation, all of his prayer, be used mightily for your kingdom in this hour. In the mighty name of Yeshua we pray.

0:47 Amen. Amen. Thank you, Marcus. Excuse me. As I've done for 673 days, I'll continue to share with you a few headlines of what is going on in the Middle East. Uh, currently there remain 50 hostages being held against their will held in captivity. 20 of them are thought to, uh, remain, uh, to continue to be alive. And I don't know if you, I don't know if you pay attention too much, and, and I considered showing it, I decided not to. Um, but a video was released this last week of one

1:32 of those hostages, uh, and the condition, uh, in which he finds himself. And in the video, he's, at least in his words, he's being forced to dig his own grave. His body looks, if you've been to any Holocaust museum in the world, his body looks like those who were released from the death camps, who, who were, who were rescued from the death camps, uh, post the Holocaust, or at the end of World War ii. And at one point in the video, uh, one of the members of Hamas extends a hand with a can of beans in it.

2:19 Now, if you, if you ever happen to take the time and just pause the video, you can see the nutritional difference between the captor who's holding a can of beans and has lost zero weight. His arm looks like any one of our arms would look like. Uh, but the, the hostage, every guitar he is, you can see his bones, his, uh, his bones are protruding from, from his body. And he, he just, it, it's unbelievable. Hamas has vowed not to disarm as long as Israel continues to exist.

3:05 Anybody ever wonder if it's possible to have a ceasefire with Hamas? Here's the answer. If you ever wonder what they mean when they actually say from the river to the sea, here's the answer. As long as Israel continues to exist, Hamas will not stop. And until the day, this is the, the rest of the headline, until, until there is an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty and Jerusalem as its capital. There's a lot of, there's a lot of conditions here. Now, that's one, that's one side.

3:51 I'll come back in a minute on a, if I can say a brighter note. I, I don't know. To me it's a brighter note. The Lebanese government, the government of Lebanon, this, the, the nation state directly to the north of Israel, the Lebanese government has instructed the army, the Lebanese army, to implement a state monopoly on arms, or not on like physical arms, but on on weapons. You imagine that issuing a, a monopoly on arms anyways, they're issuing a mono, a a monopoly of weapons owned. They have to be owned by the state, by Lebanon and by the state army.

4:37 And it's effective. It's supposed to be effective by the end of the year. You're like, oh, well, that doesn't mean anything. What it means as a secondary effect is that they are disarming Hezbollah, because Hezbollah is not the state army of Lebanon. Now, we'll see if it actually happens, but this is the first time in over 20 years that they've tried 20, 25 years. Now, I guess antisemitism, I i is astonishing to me how idiotic intelligent people can be.

5:22 And really, I say intelligent, I actually just mean people because it, it, it's, it's around the world. It's not limited to intelligent people. It's not limited to, to idiotic people. It's not limited to a particular color people. It's not limited to a particular geographical region of people. It's everywhere from the North Pole to the South Pole. And all the way around antisemitism is on the rise. This last week, there was an Iberia flight from Argentina to Spain, and I don't, maybe, maybe you don't fly internationally, but, um, on international flights, it, it's quite common for

6:07 religious Jewish people to, um, request a kosher meal on the kosher meals of that flight. We're stamped free Palestine. It is a new form of bullying and intimidation. Imagine the fear of those Jewish passengers who had the courage to order a kosher meal as they're stuck in a metal tube for 11 hours, wondering, who do I have to keep an eye out for? I know I'm jumping all around, but, we'll, we'll, let me come back to, um, it's,

6:55 it's, it's astonishing over the last week or two, maybe three, the accusation of genocide against Israel, uh, the accusation of Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people. I don't know if that makes sense. Did I, did I do? The adjective adjectives there, right? The accusations have gone out the roof in terms of how, how often, how frequent, and how loud those accusations are. By the way, guess also what has gone up in that same time period, funding by Qatar of accusations against Israel. Just as a side note, Israel has been accused of committing genocide against the Palestinians.

7:45 By the way, that's not a new accusation. It's not just in the last 673 days. That's an accusation that has gone on for over 70 years, since the state of Israel has been in existence. In fact, now it's to the point that Israel is being considered one of the absolute worst actors, worst offenders in, in terms of committing genocide. They're, they're the most evil of all. Can I just tell you? They are the absolute worst people at attempting genocide. The absolute worst. Do you want to know why?

8:31 Because in the last 70 years, the Palestinian population has increased 450%. That's a really bad attempt at genocide. That's like an attempt at live aside. Um, I, I, I, I wanna show, did, did you guys get that picture? I wanna I wanna show you this picture. Maybe you saw it, maybe you didn't. The the Times released this picture, uh, on August 1st, strikingly, I don't know if anybody ever pays attention to the, to the calendar, but this just happened to coincide

9:16 with Tisha bav, which is the day that the worst atrocities in human history have been committed against the Jewish people over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, and over and over again. This is the, the truth behind the picture. It was a staged photo. I'm not telling you that there aren't people in, in Gaza hungry, but I'm telling you, Israel is not to blame. Hamas is to blame for their own people suffering. I, I can't remember the numbers I gave was that two weeks ago for food trucks that made it in. I, Israel is letting in all of these food trucks, and

10:03 before they make it to the people, the food trucks are robbed, stolen, acquiesced, whatever verbiage you want to use, they are taken over by Hamas and then utilized to feed Hamas operatives so that when they release a video that they've lost no weight in this attempted genocide by Israel. When they release all of these things, there's no difference in them. Now, let me tell you one more thing. They then take the food and they mark it up 150%. 200%. Why? Because they're continuing to pay their government salaries

10:50 off of the west. Generosity. If you wonder how they're continuing to live and afford to live, it's because of the generosity of the West that they're able to continue operating. That's enough for, for today. Sorry, I I was outta town last week and I gave a whole message on antisemitism. It was not that I dream about things, but I, I got to talk for 45 minutes. I, every week, I give about 10 minutes. I got 45 minutes, and then I took a little bit longer. I know it's a surprise for all of you,

11:37 but it took a little bit longer and, and, um, just shared, we don't talk about antisemitism for the sake of pointing it out. We talk about antisemitism so that, that you understand it, it exists so that you can pray against it, and so that you can speak against it. Because antisemitism is not just about hating the Jewish people, attempting to kill the Jewish people, attempting to wipe them off the face of the earth. Antisemitism is an attempt. It's a spiritual attempt to thwart the plan of God. God has chosen to operate in this world

12:23 through his people as his agents, his covenant people. If there's one way to prove God false, it's to have no more covenant people. So antisemitism isn't just, I don't, I don't mean this to belittle anything else. Antisemitism is not just racism. It's not just any other ism. It's actually a spiritual entity in and of itself that other, that, that people in, in flesh buy into. And the crazy thing is it morphs it.

13:10 I I used to say it morphs generation by generation. I think it now morphs maybe month by month is how quickly it changes. Okay? I really am, I really am done with that. Now, let's, uh, we're going to continue moving through acts, the book of Acts as we have been doing for, I don't know, a year and a half or two, something like that. Don't worry, we will reach the end and we'll go somewhere else. And then you're, one day you're gonna be like, man, I wish we were back in acts still, but that, that day is probably five years away. I'm just playing. We are, we are continuing in Acts chapter 17.

13:58 And what I'm going to do, unfortunately, as I've, as we've done over, over the last couple years, now, we have to split a passage because I am long-winded. And if I took a whole passage, we would be here until one of you fell outta the window asleep this evening. So we we're gonna split this passage, but, but I'm going to read the whole passage just so you can under hear it all in one, in one telling, and then we'll do it again next week. So Acts chapter 17, starting in verse 16. Now, while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was aroused within him when he saw that the city was full of idols.

14:44 So he was debating in the synagogue with the Jewish people and the God fearers as well as in the marketplace every day with all who happened to be there. Also, some of the epicurean and stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, what's this babbler trying to say? While others, he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities because he was proclaiming the good news of Yeshua and the resurrection. So they took Paul to the aerial PGAs saying, may we know that this new teaching may, may we know what this new teaching is that you were talking about, for you are bringing some strange things to our ears. So we want to know what these things mean. Now, all the Athenians, uh, Athenians

15:30 and foreigners visiting there used to pass their time doing nothing but telling or hearing something new. So Paul stood in the middle of the aeropagus and said, men of Athens, I see that in all ways you were very religious. For while I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God. Therefore, what you worship without knowing this, I proclaim to you the God who made the world in all that is in it, since he is the Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by hands, nor is he serving, uh, nor is he served by human hands as if he needed anything. Since he himself gives to everyone life and breath

16:18 and all things from one, he made every nation of men to live on the face of the earth, having set appointed times and the boundaries of their territory. They were to search for him and perhaps grope around him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for in Him, we live and move and have our being, as some of your own poets have said, for we also are his offspring. Since we are his offspring, we ought not to suppose the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an engraved image of human art and imagination. Though God overlooked the periods of ignorance, now he commands everyone everywhere to repent for He has set a day on which he will judge the world in

17:04 righteousness through a man whom he has appointed. He has brought forth evidence of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Now, when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began scoffing, but others said, we will hear from you again about this. So Paul left from their midst, but some men joined with him and believed among them, Dionysius, a member of the Council of Aeropagus, and a woman named DeMars and others with them. So today we're gonna start here in this section verses 16 through 18. Paul seems to be waiting by, by the way, you, you kind of have to rewind, go back a couple verses just to remember who he's waiting for.

17:50 But Paul seems to be waiting alone for the arrival of Silas and Timothy, uh, for whom he sent. And, and as he's waiting alone there in the, in the city of Athens, his spirit is aroused. Why? Because he sees that the city is full of idols. Now, just so you know, the Jewish community is very concerned about being contaminated by idol worship. So they would keep a distance between themselves and the idols. But Paul here seems to be wandering through the city, and you just imagine him wandering through the, the streets of Athens. And as he's wandering,

18:36 perhaps maybe he's even taking a tour, he's, he's wandering through and or touring through, I don't know if any of you have ever been on a tour, but tour guides will, will guide you through the places and be like, oh, this here is the temple of Zeus, and this here is the temple of Aphrodite and, and all of these different gods. And, and Paul's getting a tour going, oh my goodness, there's gods everywhere. But he is now becoming fully aware of the, the volume of idols in this city because of what happens later in the passage. I actually assume at this point that he begins to ask the Lord what the Lord is trying to show him, Paul,

19:23 about this city, this people, this culture. Why do I say that? Because as we witness what Paul does, you can see that Paul has an intimate relationship before the Lord, that he's modeled his life after Yeshua, who, and Yeshua spent time and would retreat to be with just the Lord, and then would emerge with a plan. So it seems to me Paul is following the same, same kind of rhythm, if you will. So he's going around, he's visiting, he's wandering, he's touring, uh, and, and all of a sudden he's in a synagogue. Now, it shouldn't surprise us that Paul ends up in a synagogue. In fact, the surprising thing for us should be is

20:11 that the text doesn't note that Paul went to the synagogue first. So is it a different pattern? Is Paul changing his pattern? I, I, I don't think so. Actually. I think perhaps it wasn't the first place he went because he's alone. And I'm wondering if he is putting into practice what Yeshua says. When Yeshua says, go out two by two. You know, he sends out the 70 in, in Luke, uh, 11, I think it is. He sends out the 70, he says, he goes, go out two by two. Why is it good to be two by two? It's really helpful having a, a, a person who can walk with you and, and, and, and is of, of one accord with you. So I wonder if Paul didn't first engage in the synagogue

20:59 either A, because he was alone, or b maybe it's just the time he arrived in the city. Maybe he arrived on a Sunday and he's waiting for Shabbat. We don't know. But what we do know is his spirit is aroused, and while his spirit is aroused, he begins to debate with the Jewish people and with the God fears who are in the synagogue. It's interesting because he places the synagogue, uh, the occupants of the synagogue as Jews and God fears, and they're in the synagogue. And then he says, and he was debating with those in the marketplace all day or daily. And, and here it's the Luke goes on. He's engaged by these two different types of philosophers,

21:44 by the way, I, I know many of us think about it, but maybe, maybe we don't understand timelines. But it's important to remember Athens has been the center of the world during the, the Grecian Empire. But now that Rome is in charge, the, the, the, the, it's governed by the Caesars, the center has actually moved to Rome. So Athens is no longer as a city in, in the, um, forefront of everyone's thought. But what Athens is now is according to a couple commentators, it's kinda like a college town. Everybody's sitting around and they like to talk about all of these different ideas,

22:29 and they float ideas, and they sit around and discuss, drink the coffee. Oh, it's so good. So the city's become like a college town, and it's centered around these philosophers who are dwelling there. It, it's also important to note, unlike what we've already encountered, Philippi and Thessalonica, unlike those two cities, Athens is not a Roman colony. Athens is its own entity. It is a free city that happens to be underneath Roman rule, but it's governed as a, as its own entity, a free colony or a free city. So these philosophers, they're trying to figure out what is, what is this that Paul is teaching? What is all of this stuff? And, and what they conclude is it concerns a foreign deity,

23:18 or at least one group of them. And, and, and the text actually tells us that Paul was sharing the good news of Yeshua and the resurrection. By the way, I, it, I don't know that it, it's important for us, but just as another note, the two philosophers that are mentioned in the text are actually two different groups that are at odds with each other. Um, if you can, they're verbally warring against each other. Maybe because of our context, you would be more familiar with something like the Sadducees and the Pharisees being in a room as a council, but, but being at odds with each, with each other in a similar manner. Paul divides the room. Why? 'cause a divided enemy cannot stand Paul's an int inte Paul.

24:05 If if nothing else, if, if you don't think anything else about Paul, understand Paul is one of the most intelligent men you would ever meet, because he knows what to do in every situation. It's amazing. So we move on in the text. So they took Paul to the AGAs. I don't even know if I'm saying that right, saying, may we know what this new teaching is that you were talking about for, you're bringing some strange things to our ears. So we want to know what these things mean. Now, all the Athenians and foreigners visiting there used to pass their time doing nothing but telling or hearing something new. You see, this is what I was talking about. They're all, they like to all sit around, drink coffee and talk.

24:52 So the philosophers, they take Paul to the, to this place. The Aus is likely a council consisting of crats. The court was something around a hundred members, and these members seemed to have been people of wealth and status, and it was a part of the ruling government in Athens. So in order for Paul to continue teaching in Athens, he would have to get permission from this council. So what is the new teaching? Well, we know from chapter 17 verse 18 that, that Paul is proclaiming Yeshua and the resurrection. We even know from the text that they thought he was teaching about foreign deities.

25:37 So if, if they think he, he's talking about foreign deities, then we have to conclude a couple things. First of all, he must be talking about the God of Israel, and he must be using that verbiage, the God of Israel, because Israel is a foreign entity at that point. He must be talking about the God of Israel. He could be talking about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He could be talking about the covenants that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob made with them for the purpose of the redemption of the world. He could be talking about how the Lord is faithful to insert himself into history for the sake of his name and his covenant promises with Israel.

26:25 All of this would lead the philosophers to think that Paul's talking about a foreign God, but it wouldn't account for this, this note that's here of bringing something strange to our ears. Why do I say that? These Athenians, they, they're used to all sorts of gods. And, and we'll come back to this in a few minutes, but they're used to all sorts of gods and, and some of these gods promise, life after death, some of these gods promise wealth, some of these gods promise reign. Some of these gods make all of these promises and, and even intervene in history and even have children with women or, or men, uh, either way,

27:11 I guess technically there's some female gods also in, in Greek, but, um, that's not new. So what is new? That seems strange to them. I wonder if it's because Paul is talking about more than just the covenants between the Lord and the people of Israel. Why that part would be natural for all of the Jewish people in, in Athens to talk about. But the new strange things could be addressing the inclusion of Gentiles in the redemptive work of the Lord without Gentiles completing the conversion process to Judaism. Why do I say that? Because this is the specific mission that Paul was sent out.

27:57 Paul and Silas both were sent out, uh, from Antioch with just as a I I'm not trying to rere ch Acts, acts 15 and 16, and also the beginning of 17. But just as a reminder, acts 15, there was a ruling, and they went back to Antioch and it comforted them. Antioch then said, Hey, we're gonna send you guys back out and, and to go share all of this with all of these things. What are they sharing? There's good news for gentile men and it doesn't involve a Flint knife. There's good news. There's good news.

28:43 The redemption that has been, has been brought in, includes you without you, um, making a very strong commitment to Jewish expression of life. This is the mission that Paul is sent out with. Now, this mission would sound strange because this is contrary to if you ever read any mythologies. This is contrary to most of the ways the Gods work. No, we want everybody to come and, and, and be all the same. We want everybody to, everybody has to become like this.

29:30 You have to become strictly like this in order to be my follower. This is different. This is strange. So let's continue on. So Paul stood in the middle of the Aero Pegas and said, men of Athens, I see that in all ways you are very religious. For while I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God. Therefore, what you worship without knowing this, I proclaim to you the God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by hands, nor is he served by human hands as if he needed anything.

30:17 Since he himself gives to everyone life and breath in all things from one, he made every nation of men to live on the face of the earth having set appointed times and boundaries for their territory. They were to search for him, perhaps grope around him, and then find him. Yet he's not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being. I don't know if you, sometimes we can get caught up in reading the Bible and we forget that it's significant. We need to get caught up. Oh, this is, this is really interesting. Paul's doing some cool stuff here. Paul is standing up to share the good news with everyone who's listening in this council.

31:04 But I want to, I want, I want to, I want to point out something. It's strikingly similar to when Peter stands up and Acts two and shares with everyone there who's listening present. But there's a really, there's a major difference. Let me lemme talk about Peter for a minute. Peter's speaking to a group of people that are aware in Acts chapter two of the covenant faithfulness of the Lord. They're Jews who have come from all of the diaspora and they come to celebrate Shao. They're, they're there for a religious reason. And if they're there for that reason, they understand at least that there is a God who is, um, faithful to his covenant with his people. They're aware of the Lord's promises, they're aware

31:50 that disobedience to the Lord's command produces a different outcome. Then repentance, Peter stands up and he connects their questioning. I don't know if you remember, they're all like, oh, are they drunk? Peter stands up and says, it's nine o'clock in the morning. He says, they're not drunk. These are the prophetic promises that are in the scripture come to fruition. He doesn't say exactly which ones he expects his audience to know. He stands up. He says, this is prophetic fulfillment of the end days. He declares that the promised one, the Messiah of Israel, the one to whom, uh, it has been promised would come. And then he, and then what Peter says, whom you crucified,

32:38 Peter's like super strong by the way. He says, you crucified him. And and their response is, oh my goodness, we need to repent. What do we do? And he says, save yourself from this twisted generation. I'm telling you all of this so that you can remember. It's different than what happens here in Acts 17. In Acts chapter two, Peter's teaching a biblically literate people. They understand what the Bible says and promises here. Paul doesn't. Paul could easily stay up and say, you guys are a bunch of sinners. You're worshiping these false gods. You're all gonna go to hell. You think it's hot in Texas? Paul could easily get up and say all of that, but Paul doesn't say it at all.

33:25 This is what Paul says. Y'all listen to the difference. Paul gets up and says, I see that you are a very religious people, totally different. I see it's you're re a very religious people. He's seeing all of the gods perhaps, or even there in the council with him. Perhaps there's these little statues of gods all around the council. And Paul goes, I see you guys are very religious people. Look at all these gods. Paul is paying attention to the fact that the gods are there. I'm gonna say he's paying attention that he knows which ones are which.

34:10 Why do I say that? Because he says, look, there's even this one right over here. There's an altar with an inscription, says to an unknown God. He, y'all think about this. Paul is there in front of, pardon me if I offend anyone in front of a bunch of pagans who are worshiping the gods of all of these different places. And and he goes, wow, you guys are really religious people. Look At all of these gods that you have. You know, I saw this one back, right over there in the corner. It's, it says to an unknown God. Do you see what Paul's doing? He launches from that point. He, he creates a connection with him

34:56 and the culture at hand. And he says, this is the God that I want to tell you about. You worship him without knowing, but let me tell you why you should worship him again. Paul doesn't lead with you think it's hot outside. And by the way, we're in Texas and it is hot outside. He goes on the God who made the world and all things in it, since he is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in temples made by hands, nor is he served by human hands as if he needed anything. Since he himself gives to everyone life and breath and all things from one, he made every nation of men to live on the face of the earth having set appointed times

35:43 and boundaries of their territory. They were to search for him and perhaps grope around and find him. Yet he's not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being. Paul is utilizing what they already do, what they already worship, and he's softly challenging their methods. I listen, I I just printed out not an exhaustive list, but just a list of the gods that could have been present. Zeus, king of the gods, God of the sky and thunder, herra, queen of the gods, goddess of marriage and family, zeus's wife Poseidon, God of the sea,

36:29 earthquakes and horses deter goddess of agriculture, harvest and fertility. Athena seems to me she would've been president in Athens, Athena, goddess of wisdom, warfare and crafts, Apollo God of music, poetry, light and healing. Artemis goddess of the hunt, wilderness and the moon. Aries God of the, uh, of war, uh, festus God of fire, metal working in crafts, Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty, and desire, Hermes God of mess. The, the messenger of the Gods God of commerce and thieves and travelers. Interesting God of thieves. What a horrible God. Di Dion, ISIS, God of wine, revelry theater, hesia, goddess of the hearth and home is a bunch of gods and goddesses that,

37:15 and by the way, that's not even exhaustive. That's just Google giving me the ai generated of the top 12 or 15 gods and goddesses of the Greek empire, uh, of, of Greek mythology. But there's an altar. Paul, I, I wonder, I wonder if Paul actually goes from each one trying to find his way into this culture, goes to each one stumbles across the one to an to an unknown God. And he says this unknown God, he is the one who created the world and everything in it. Now, I want you to, I don't know if you paid that much attention as I listed the other gods not one

38:01 of those other gods was a creator of the world and everything in it. They each were allotted a section. Even Zeus, who's the, the God of the gods, if you will, he's God of thunder and, and, and what did I say? Thunder and sky and something else, uh, king. He's the king of the gods God of the sky and thunder. There's other things he has no jurisdiction over. Sorry. I just all of a sudden thought of one of my favorite movies, the Frisco kid. But anyways, if you know, you know this God, the unknown God is the God who created the world and everything that is in it, in contrast to all of these other gods present. And because he created everything, he doesn't need

38:48 to live in temples made by human hands. He's in need of nothing since he gave it to everyone. The breath of life, he made every nation from one he set appointed times and boundaries for their territory. No, I want to, I want to note something super interesting here. The Lord created the times and seasons. He created the space in which each nation, nation dwells. He's the Lord of both time and space. But I wonder if there's something underlying here in Paul. The Lord also determines the epochs or the epics of nations themselves. I want you to think about, I dunno if you've read Daniel recently, but Daniel, uh,

39:36 interprets a dream about these kingdoms that are to come and one will give way to the next. And, and if you will, the one will fade and the next will get strong. He could be speaking to Athens because it was the center of the previous empire, but it's no longer the center of the empire that honor now belongs to Rome. But Athens still has significant influence. He's acknowledging that that epic is gone. He's acknowledging something. And, and I will say there's something in just an acknowledgement that a time has passed. It's no longer that season. Now we're in a new season. The nations were to search for him. This is what he says.

40:22 Uh, he continues on. They might grope around and looking for him, but they didn't have the opportunity to, to find him. Paul goes, by the way, I don't know if you pay, if, if you're really paying attention, Paul switches in and out from what I call a macro view of everything to a micro view of one person. He goes out to the nations, they're groping around, and he goes to the, he comes and he says, yet he's not far from each one of us. You see all the nations, they're groping. And yet the Lord's not far from each one of us. There's a chance for us to find him and come near to him. That's for the non-Jewish ears. What what they hear is there's a chance for us

41:08 to come near him and find him for the Jewish ears. This is what you hear. Then you'll call on me from Jeremiah 29 and come and pray to me. And I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you will search for me with all your heart. Then I will be found by you, says the Lord. And I will return you from exile and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord. And I will bring you back to the place from which I removed you as captives into exile. These are the, I don't know if you, you notice there's a difference in what is heard when he says it's the end of an epic, the Greeks. Oh, well, now it's Rome's time. The Jewish people here.

41:56 Oh, we're getting close to the day when he's gonna recall all of us. It's a different epic, but it still is a difference of, of hearing. Now, I wanna read to you another scripture, which which I find quite fascinating, Isaiah chapter 55. 'cause I also think that this is, this is one of the things that is being heard. And I'm saying this knowing full well that we are now into what are known as the seven weeks of comfort, um, starting with this, this, this ha portion where you are to comfort Israel. And, uh, and so Isaiah 55 says this, we're gonna Isaiah 55, 1 through six, everyone

42:45 who thirsts come to the water and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread? Your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Listen, so that your soul may live, I will make an everlasting covenant with you and trustworthy loyalty to David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples behold, you will summon a nation you do not know, and a nation that did not know you will run to you

43:31 because of the Lord your God, and the holy one of Israel. For he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. There's some interesting connections in what Paul is teaching here and, and grabbing and pulling in. And the the passage ends with this, that it is in him, in the Lord, that we live and move and have our being. In other words, he is the existence of our essence, uh, the essence of our existence. I'm gonna come back to this next week, but just as a, as a, as a drop for next week. It reminds me going all the way back to the beginning,

44:19 Genesis chapter one, verse 26, let us make man, then God said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness, let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the flying creatures, over the sky, over the livestock, over the whole earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the land. God created humankind in his image and in the image of God, he created him, male and female. He created them for in Him. We live and move and have our being. The essence of our existence is found within him. But there's more, it's quite fascinating. Maybe I'll get into it more next week. But when you look at the name of God as given in the book

45:04 of Exodus, you have va when you begin to extract what he's, what he could be talking about, he makes himself the essence of existence. He is being, if you can put it that way. He is, he was, and he will always be. And if we find ourselves in his existence than in him, we live, we move. Uh, and what was the, what was the final? And we have our own being. So what does this, what does this mean? What does this text mean for us today? Well, I got a few questions. I'll leave you with four questions. Number one, what do we do when we're on our own?

45:54 Hmm. That's a hard question for most of us, because either A, we're never on our own, or b, when we're on our own, we don't like other people knowing what we do. What do we do when we are on our own? Do we allow the Lord to speak to us and to lead us as he does, as Paul does in this case? Question number two, are we faithful to continue to follow the Lord? Even when in new places with new people, it's extremely intimidating to go into a new place and be like, Ooh, I think I'm just gonna like, I'm just, I'm, I'm, well, maybe I shouldn't say that.

46:39 Nevermind. Whew. Filter caught it. It's like that meme filter, filter released it. It's like the meme. I don't know if you guys ever pay attention. You, you send like a gif and there's like a hedge of bushes and you just see Homer like disappearing into the bushes. Anyways, is that what we are? Do we let the Lord continue to lead us, or do we just slowly back out and walk away? Finally, this is, I think, the biggest challenge to us. Are we able to explain our faith in a culturally relevant way?

47:27 Do we take the time to walk around and see and name all of the gods and find the altar to the unknown? God, do we take that time or do we just say, you're a bunch of pagans, you're all going to hell by? Because if we take the time, God puts markers everywhere for us to utilize lives. But we gotta look, we have to, I'm not telling you to go out, go out and, and become pagan and worship all of the gods, but I'm telling you, find the marker that the Lord has left so that the ears can be open to hearing about Yeshua, the resurrection

48:16 and these strange things about Jews and Gentiles living together without, without animosity, and without becoming the same. Because those are the things that are most challenging in our world. You have to find, it's, it's not easy, by the way. It's super easy to find, oh, you're the goddess of lust. By I'm not telling you, engage the goddess of lust. I'm telling you, find the reason that God has placed these different entities there, and the Lord will show you the path that our society, I'm, I, I think I've said this

49:02 before, is my opinion, and I'm willing to be not right. When I was growing up, I felt like our society, and at least here culturally in Texas and in America, was an Acts two society, biblically literate, knew what the Bible was, knew, knew enough about the Bible to have a conversation. I don't think that's true anymore. I actually think we are far closer to this Athens society in America, maybe even in Texas, maybe even here in the buckle of the Bible Belt. I I'm beginning to think this is the way we have to approach outreach.

49:51 We can't get up and say repent because they don't know they're doing something wrong. Yeah, this is a hard one to clap for. Don't tell 'em to repent. If I get up and said in Dallas City Square where there's no city square, but you know what I'm talking, if I went into the city hall and I said, you guys gotta repent, you're all going to hell. I would be nicely escorted outta the building. Rather, we have to figure out how is it that the Lord wants us to engage in our culture and our society so that we can direct them to him?

50:37 And, and I'm just telling you, it's not easy work. It's hard. You gotta find the, you gotta find that, that altar, whatever that altar is, and I'm gonna tell you, it's gonna be different in Dallas than it is in Austin. It's gonna be different in Austin than it is in San Antonio. It's gonna be different here than it is in California. It's gonna be different in California than it is in Illinois. It's gonna be different in the United States of America than it is in Canada. But if you don't take the time to look, then I go back to what Marcus said earlier. Are, are we really being an effective witness? Are we allowing the Lord to utilize us, utilize us in an effective manner?

51:23 So let me leave you with that. Are you able to explain your faith in a culturally relevant way? A may. Our Father in heaven. Lord, I thank you, uh, for this passage. Lord, I thank you for your, uh, good news of Yeshua in the resurrection, Lord. And we come to you and just ask that you would create within us a heart that is willing to listen, to follow you each and every day. We bless you and praise you in Yeshua's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you

52:09 and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace, right? Right

52:58 in the name of our Messiah, Yeshua.