WEBVTT 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:11.679 You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:18.719 When you start having the mind of Christ, you start having insight into stuff. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:20.480 Where'd that come from? 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:35.600 I'm talking about as a doctor and a lawyer and a mechanic and a foreman of a construction company or whatever it should do, that God will give you insight because you're now tapping into the reservoir of the Spirit of God for which you were created to be tapping into. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:37.280 That's what you were made for. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:43.600 Today, Pastor Steve continues his series on the Book of Revelation. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:49.439 At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:53.920 For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:59.359 We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:08.400 So today we're in the book of Revelation, and we've been going through the book of Revelation now. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:12.239 Probably the most exciting book, I think, in the Bible. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:18.400 And we're in chapter six, and we're just going to briefly touch on Revelation chapter six. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:32.480 For you that are new to the road, which is many of you, you can go online to theroad.org and you'll see when you get the when you get the website, you'll see at the top where it says it says uh what does it say? 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:36.480 It says live, live streaming, I think it says at the top. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:37.280 Live streaming. 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:42.480 You can click that and you'll see the entire section of the book of Revelation. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:45.599 So you, if you want to catch up, you can go there. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:47.840 First uh five chapters are there. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.680 We've been going through Revelation now for a couple of months, several months. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:55.840 Um I believe that the book of Revelation is one of the most exciting books in the Bible. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:03.599 How many of you, just raise your hand if you've been confused about our culture in the last year or two? 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:04.719 Raise your hand. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:05.120 Okay. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:07.280 Things are changing, men and women. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:08.479 The culture is changing. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:11.919 Our actually, our city is changing. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:13.520 Colorado Springs is changing. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:22.000 My son Daniel, who is one of the young men up here who's head of Teleos, the youth ministry, um, had his car stolen last night. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:27.360 It's the second time it's been stolen in an apartment complex on the northern end of town. 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:31.599 And um and we are seeing more crime happen. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:33.199 It's moving our way, folks. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:35.599 It's not just going to be in other parts of the city. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:36.479 It's coming this way. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:40.719 We had some, I was out here uh working on some stuff um yesterday. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:51.360 Excuse me, the day before yesterday on Friday, some boys came by, took some large rocks, and threw the rocks at the windows here at the entranceway and put a pretty big dent in a couple places. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.240 Um, looked like they couldn't have been 10 or 11 years old. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:56.240 And so there's stuff going on, folks. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:07.599 It's coming our way, and culture's changing, and the book of Revelation is an intelligence report from God Himself on preparation for the coming of the Lord. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:11.599 This is the most prophetic book on the coming of the Lord. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:22.319 And uh, and we're getting ready to go into, I think, some of the most exciting parts of the book of Revelation, because we're gonna be talking about the Great Tribulation period, the period of the rise of the Antichrist and a one-world government. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:23.280 We're seeing that. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.800 The EU is really struggling with its issues right now. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.080 Putin's on the rise. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:30.879 There's stuff happening in the Middle East that we don't understand. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:35.759 Um, President Obama is has struggled to figure out what to do with the Middle East. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:42.879 There's stuff happening in South America with the drug cartels that are that are that we that we in America don't know what to do about. 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.879 That's probably part of the immigration question that's going on right now. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:51.599 There's stuff happening right now in China that wasn't happening before. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:04:02.400 And so, what you see, if we could think of kind of God giving us his view, because folks, this is not taking God by surprise. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:07.360 And so we've talked about Revelation chapter 4 and 5, which is the control room of the universe. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:10.639 The power room of the universe is Revelation chapter 4 and 5. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:19.360 And I had many years ago I had the opportunity to go on a battleship when I was a missionary in Japan, and we went on a battleship in a bay there, and there's a control room. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:36.240 And this control room's um, you know, about the size of just this section of seats right here, and yet the entire battleship with uh with hundreds and hundreds of young sailors on there is all controlled, and it was a nuclear uh battleship in that power room. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:49.680 And the power room is heaven, and God's not sitting there all flustered, he's actually working out a strategic, tactical plan, and he gave us that plan in the book of Revelation. 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:52.000 And so we're moving into that period. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:54.079 So look at Revelation 6.1. 00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:59.600 If you don't have a Bible, um, you can download the app, and my notes are always in the app. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.759 And I think that's the road, Steve Holt. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:07.360 If you go to your app store, you can download it or um or share with someone near you. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:07.759 Look around. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:09.759 Is everybody if somebody sees someone without a Bible? 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:11.199 Be willing to share your Bible with them. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:25.120 Revelation 6.1 says, Now I saw when the Lamb opened the seals, one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, come and see. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:30.800 Now, if you're new with us, I go verse by verse through the book of Revelation. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:33.759 I'm a chapter by chapter, verse by verse teacher of the word. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:44.800 But today we're gonna veer off from this opening verse, a little bit different than usual, and what I'm entitling this is The Times of the Signs, part one. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:47.120 The Times of the Signs. 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:57.600 So, what I'm gonna do before we actually dive in the in the uh coming weeks into Revelation 6 and 7, I want to talk about the times of the signs. 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:13.680 So we are here in Revelation 6 talking about the opening of the seven seals, and that opening of the seventh seal, in my opinion, is gonna open up the great tribulation period. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:19.839 Now I want you to listen to what I'm gonna say next, because some of you may have heard it differently, and I'll explain it in the weeks to come. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:25.199 I do not believe that Revelation 6 and 7 is the great tribulation period. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:30.000 I believe it is actually what we might call the beginning of sorrows. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:32.959 So now, turn to Matthew 24. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:35.040 And you're gonna have to do a little bit of turning today. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:37.040 I don't normally do this, but we're gonna do it today. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.720 We're gonna be in Matthew 24 briefly and some other passages. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:42.319 You don't have to turn to all of them. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:45.040 Just follow my thinking on this. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:52.160 Jesus is being asked by his disciples, how do we know the signs of the last days? 00:06:52.399 --> 00:07:04.319 How do we know about, you know, what's gonna be happening on the earth that for the Jesus follower and the Jesus disciple, you go, oh, that's exactly what the Bible says. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:07.839 And so here's what he says in verse 3 of Matthew 24. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:15.759 Now, as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, Tell us, when will these things be? 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:23.920 I mean, people are always wondering about, how do you know about this idea of the second coming of Christ? 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:24.959 Well, it's nothing new. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:26.800 2,000 years ago they were wondering. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:34.079 And what will be the sign of your coming, and that's that's singular, and of the end of the age. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:37.519 Do you guys realize this this is this is wrapping up? 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:40.560 I mean, this is God's linear. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:41.199 Uh-uh. 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:48.800 I mean, most New Age teachers kind of indicate that we're kind of living in a cyclical age of life and death. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:56.399 Um there's been so many movies about this, about that I won't even go through all of them, but ten or five, five or ten of them are just popping up in my head right now. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:58.560 About this the cycle of life. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:00.319 Well, actually, Jesus is linear. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:03.680 There's actually a beginning, and there's actually an end. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:09.519 And so the disciples in Hebraic thinking at that time was also linear of the end of the age. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:11.120 And here's what he says, verse 4. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:14.959 And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no one deceives you. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:17.920 Now he says that because there's gonna be a lot of deception out there. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:25.759 For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.079 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:35.919 See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:40.240 For nation will rise up against nation, or ethnos against ethnos. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:44.159 It's not just meaning geographic, boundaried political nations. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.360 It's talking about tribal ethnic groups will rise up against each other. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:48.320 Allah. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:51.919 The Middle East right now, especially, and especially in Africa also. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.320 Kingdom against kingdom. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:59.759 And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:12.799 And I'm gonna go into all of it, that's coming up next week and in the week after, but I'll tell you, there's more famines and earthquakes and pestilences happening in our world than ever in the history of the earth. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:14.399 Now look at verse 8, though. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:16.320 This is the key, and I would underline this. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:19.440 All these are just the beginnings of sorrows. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:30.559 So, folks, you know, whether you believe in the rapture coming before the tribulation or during the tribulation or after the tribulation, the reality is this is just the beginning of sorrows. 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:31.919 We're gonna go through this. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:33.679 We're gonna go through these things. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:35.039 So you gotta be prepared. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:41.200 And let me tell you, if you're not prepared spiritually, you will get blown out of the water. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:42.320 I mean, you will. 00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:46.240 There's gonna be so much stuff happening that's gonna be so deceptive. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:54.240 If you're not a Bible-believing, spirit-filled, word-rooted believer, it's gonna be, you're not gonna know where to turn. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:55.679 You're gonna turn to our politicians? 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:56.159 Hello? 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:57.120 Are you kidding me? 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:00.159 You know, are you gonna turn to the Congress? 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:04.720 Are you gonna turn to um your bank accounts? 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:13.600 I mean, we could continue to read Matthew 24, and there's gonna be economic upheaval like the world has never seen before. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:22.240 And so the question that I want to delve into for the next couple weeks is what are the signs of the times? 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.159 What are the times of the signs? 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:25.279 Here's what Jesus said. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:26.240 You don't have to turn there. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:27.200 Let me read it to you. 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:28.799 From Matthew 16. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:29.759 He says this. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:37.120 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came testing him and asked that he would show them a sign from heaven. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:44.240 He answered and said to them, When it is evening, you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:49.360 And in the morning it will be fair, foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:55.840 Hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:01.200 So red sky in the morning, sailor's warning, red sky in the evening, sailors, what is it? 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.120 Yeah, there you go. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.759 I had that in, I remember in physics class we studied that. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:08.240 And I didn't learn it very well, did I? 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:09.600 But red sky in the morning. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:12.000 I mean, you really see it in Colorado, and you saw it last night. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:18.799 It was a beautiful sky in the evening over the front range mountains, and we've had a beautiful day today. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:25.039 And Jesus is saying, look, you guys know how to discern physically and geographically and weather-wise what's happening. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:29.039 Don't you understand spiritually what's happening? 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:36.000 And so, right now, if you go down to Cimarron, you know, if you've been to I-25 South and you get to Cimarron, what a mess, you know. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:41.759 It's a mess right now because they're they're clearing out that road, they're making that intersection wider. 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:46.639 And so you have all these signs around that say work ahead, expect delays, right lane ending. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:50.879 And then you even have the C DOT guys out there, you know, stop, slow down. 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:57.759 And um they they always go like, I don't know, this, I don't know if it's if there's something of an anointing on me. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:59.039 Maybe there's an anointing or something. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:04.399 And it seems like when I drive closer to the guys with slow down, they start having the shakes. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:06.000 And I don't know what the problem is. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:09.840 You know, they start going like this, and I don't know what their problem is. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:13.360 So they've got issues out there at CDOT, need to train their guys a little bit better. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:13.759 I don't know. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:21.279 I mean, it's not very trustworthy when the guy looks like, you know, epileptic fit every time I drive by, but I haven't figured that out yet, you know. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:29.600 But no, but the reality is that when you start seeing signs warning you, it's because something's going on, right? 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.240 You don't have signs when they're gonna do it in two months. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:34.960 You don't have signs when they're gonna do it in in three months. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:36.960 You have it right there when it's happening. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:44.320 That there's there's stuff that's coming your way that you need to be aware of, or you could have an accident. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:45.600 So here's the first sign. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:53.759 So I want to go through just one sign because this is the most important sign of all the prophetic signs in our modern times here in the 20th and 21st century. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:58.799 This is the most important sign, I believe, of the coming of the Lord in our generation. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:03.519 So here it is: Israel becoming a nation. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:06.879 Israel becoming a nation. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:17.919 The first sign of the coming tribulation, the first sign of the rise of the Antichrist, the first sign of the end of the age was on May 14th, 1948. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:20.000 And that's when Israel became a nation. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:27.600 And I had the privilege of leading a team, about 70 of us, over to Israel in 2008, on May 14th, we were there. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:33.600 So we were in Jerusalem on May 14th for the 50th anniversary of Israel becoming a nation. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:40.320 All of the world is constantly fixed on Israel and the Middle East. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:51.919 I mean, doesn't it seem strange to you that geographically there's no state, there's not even a state in our union as small as the nation of Israel. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:14:06.240 And this little state causes all the leaders of the world to have their crosshairs on it, and not to even understand its significance, but the reality is that the newscasts about Israel are constant. 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:07.840 Here, let me give you a perspective to this. 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:11.679 Mexico City is the largest city in the world. 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:14.960 And do you ever hear about Mexico City in the news? 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:16.080 Hardly ever. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:17.919 Unless it's something about drugs. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:35.519 Singapore, one of the most thriving countries in the world, and listen, where Singapore is located, if you took a 2,000-mile radius around Singapore, 50% of the world's population is found there, and you never hear anything about Singapore. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:48.080 Shanghai is the largest city, 22 million, of the largest country in the world, 1.4 billion, China, and you never hear about Shanghai. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:59.840 Yet daily, weekly, monthly, the center of the world's attention is on the nation of Israel and what's happening in the Middle East. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:09.039 Every presidential candidate, as far back as I can remember, is judged at least partially on their view of Israel. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:21.440 Not China, not India, not even to the degree that it would be with particular cities like Mexico City and Mexico, but they're judged by their view of Israel. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:29.840 And the reason is that Israel, even in our current rebellion from God, is still the apple of God's eye. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:35.679 It is the center of a storm which is beginning to get brewed here in our day. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:38.799 It all started, the ticker started, we had a ticker today. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.919 The ticker started in 1948. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:48.879 All of the Old Testament prophets prophesy that the last days' events would occur most centrally in Israel. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:16:01.360 Armageddon or the Tel Megiddo, found in Revelation 16, the great valley will be the place of the final great battle before the coming of the Lord is found in present-day Israel. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:03.039 And I've stood in that valley. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:06.399 I actually ate at McDonald's in Armageddon. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:07.039 Can you believe that? 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:07.440 I did. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:08.399 I had a Big Mac. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:14.240 So there, there, so McDonald's is there, okay? 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:17.919 It will be in Jerusalem that the temple will be rebuilt. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:20.879 It will be in Israel that the two witnesses will appear. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:32.639 In Revelation chapter 19, it is in Jerusalem that Jesus will return victorious on a white horse with a tattoo on his thigh, King of kings and Lord of Lords, and a sword coming forth from his mouth. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:34.879 And by the way, he comes on a white horse. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:39.279 So all of you that are wondering, will my animals be in heaven? 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:41.360 They will be. 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:42.320 There's a white horse. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:44.240 We know that the animals will be in heaven. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:45.840 I don't know about cats. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:47.600 Revelation 21. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:51.600 There'll be a new Jerusalem coming down from heaven on the recreated earth. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:17:03.279 The Bible predicts again and again that the Jewish people must return back to the land for these end times events to begin to occur. 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:06.160 Again, you don't need to turn there, but let me just read them to you. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:21.279 Revelation 30, 1 through 3 says this the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write in a book for yourself all the words that I've spoken to you. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:22.240 And that's what I'm reading from. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:24.559 This is this he was writing the word of God. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:33.440 For behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will bring back from captivity my people, Israel and Judah, saith the Lord. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:39.680 And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:41.200 Ezekiel 34. 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:46.480 Thus saith the Lord God, indeed I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:18:07.039 As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among the scattered sheep, so will I seek out my sheep and deliver them from the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day, and I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:12.880 I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.720 Ezekiel thirty-seven. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:27.759 Then they say to me, Thus saith the Lord God, surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations wherever they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land again. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:29.279 Isaiah 11. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:46.960 It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand against the again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left from Assyria and Egypt, from Patros and Cush, from Elam and Shannar and from Hammoth and the islands of the sea. 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:59.920 He will set up a banner for the nations and will assemble the outcast of Israel and gather together to the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:01.599 And there's just hundreds more. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:06.400 I watched a video last night on the prophetic nature of Israel. 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:14.640 And I and there's there's about a there's about 200 prophecies of God gathering Israel back to their land. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:21.200 Do you guys realize how impossible that was in 1945 and in 1946 and in 1945? 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:22.960 Nobody wanted to do that. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:35.119 And then Truman, President Truman, because of his understanding, and I'll go through this in just a moment, not so much on Truman, but the Balfour Declaration, began to have a vision for a homeland for the Jews. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:42.720 And then what happened in 1948 with the first war, and then in 1967, and then in 1972, and then in 1986. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:49.279 I mean, it's just like it's almost every war they've been in was impossible odds. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:55.759 I mean, some of the greatest uh warfare and battles ever fought, there's something supernatural. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:08.559 I was even talking to a brother who's a Palestinian, a Palestinian believer, and he said, you know, with all the stuff we've got going on, all the struggles we have, you know, we as believers believe in Israel. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:10.240 We believe that they should be here. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:21.039 And um, and even though we've got a lot of things to work out socially and racially between the tribes and stuff, the reality is that we understand as believers what God's up to. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:22.240 So there's two gatherings. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:23.279 I want you to get this now. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:24.720 There's two gatherings of Israel. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:25.519 So don't miss this. 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:27.440 The first one is a physical gathering. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:34.799 So the physical gathering from the four corners of the earth of Israel coming back and becoming a nation began in 1948. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:35.200 Okay? 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:39.200 But then there, listen, there's gonna be a spiritual gathering of Israel. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:42.559 There's a physical gathering, and then secondly, there's gonna be a spiritual gathering. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:46.240 That hasn't happened yet, and that's gonna be a great revival. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:53.279 There's gonna be a great and mighty spiritual revival that's going to hit Israel. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:10.799 And Paul talks about it in Romans and the scriptures talk about it, Isaiah talks about it, and we're gonna look at actually Ezekiel 37, that there is going to be this work of the Spirit, and it's crazy, because if there's any more obstinate people, it's Jews. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:13.680 Do we have any ethnic Jews in here? 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:14.559 Any ethnic Jews? 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:19.039 Okay, if you're married to an ethnic Jew, then you know you know what I'm talking about. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:21.759 So we're gonna look now at Ezekiel 37. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:23.920 So I would like you to turn to Ezekiel 37. 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:25.279 That's in the Old Testament. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:31.920 So if you don't know where that is, just go to your table of contents in your Bible, and you see Old and New Testament, go to Old Testament, Ezekiel. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:34.880 It's uh it's pretty, it's pretty close to the center of the Bible. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:39.359 If you go and you open up and you find Psalms, turn right, and you'll find Ezekiel. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:42.319 Ezekiel chapter 37. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:47.599 And this is this is one of those chapters that pastors really like to preach from because it really preaches. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:48.720 Because it's about dry bones. 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:52.160 You know, most pastors think everybody's dry bones except them. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:54.960 And um and so they always preach that. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:59.759 But this is actually Ezekiel 37 is actually not uh just a metaphor for our. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:07.440 Own lives where if you feel dry and maybe even spiritually burned out, which a lot of us can and do at times, maybe you do today. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:12.960 But it's actually for the prophecy of Ezekiel 37 is for the nation of Israel. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:19.200 Verse 11, we read this Son of Man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:24.240 So Ezekiel 37 is specifically about the nation of Israel. 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:32.000 And it's very apropos today because of the spiritual state, the spiritual deadness of Israel right now. 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:35.680 So let's start at the beginning, Ezekiel 37, and we're going to march through this. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:45.119 The hand of the Lord came upon me, this is Ezekiel, and brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of a valley. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:46.799 And it was full of bones. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:48.400 Kind of spooky, kind of a spooky thing. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:54.079 Then he caused me to pass by them all around. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:57.440 And behold, there were many in the open valley. 00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:00.160 So it's just probably millions of bones. 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:02.880 And I, you know, he's kind of floating. 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:08.480 The kind of picture I have is not walking in this, but he's kind of floating across in this vision. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:10.880 See bones, dry bones. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:17.200 And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:20.559 And I'm sure Ezekiel's like, man, are you what? 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:24.559 And so he says, Oh Lord God, you know. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:27.359 So he's basically saying, No way. 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:34.319 These bones can't live, but I guess you're showing me something here, and I've got to take heed to it, so you know what's going on. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:36.720 But this represents the nation of Israel. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.680 This represents the nation of Israel today. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:45.920 He's prophesying that the nation of Israel was spiritually dead at the time. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:49.519 And he's speaking here of the captivity of the Babylonians. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:24:00.799 But as I've shared with you many times before, and I don't have time to go into it all here, but the reality, men and women, is that prophecy in the scripture always has a present meaning and a future meaning. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:01.680 You hear that? 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:02.640 You understand that? 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:29.839 So when we talk about the destruction of Jerusalem, for example, in Matthew 24, which we're not going to go into today, there was a present meaning in which, in that 70-year period between that word and actually about a 40-year period, between that word and when Titus came in with the Roman Empire and destroyed Jerusalem, there was that meaning, but there was also a secondary meaning of the last days. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:36.079 That's one of the reasons why we believe that the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem in the last days. 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:42.240 So the question that Ezekiel is faced with is, can these bones live? 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:52.640 And Ezekiel's like, I don't know, but you know, Lord, because the nation of Israel today, not unlike the Babylonian period, is spiritually dead. 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:58.160 Most Jews now live in Israel. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:13.200 Worldwide, the biggest concentration is in the nation of Israel, but we have the second largest contingent of Jews in the United States of America, and 50% of them are agnostic or atheist. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:17.920 50% of Jews today in America are agnostic or atheist. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:21.039 So we're talking dry bones. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:22.400 Verse 4. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:28.640 Again he said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O bones, hear the word of the Lord. 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:34.720 How many of you know that great awakenings always occur from great preaching? 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:42.880 Great awakenings of the Lord have always been preceded by prayer and powerful teaching of the word. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:47.119 So he's saying, speak the word of the Lord to these dry bones. 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:49.440 Thus says the Lord God to these bones. 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.920 Surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:26:08.400 So the Spirit, remember it's called in the armor, helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, shodding our feet with the gospel of feast, shield of faith, and sword of the what? 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:12.799 Sword of the Spirit, which is Word of God. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:15.920 So the Spirit follows preaching. 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:17.759 So the Spirit is on preaching. 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:28.000 When the word goes out from an anointed preacher of the Lord, a prophetic word goes out into our hearts, the Spirit is on it. 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:30.079 It's the Spirit that breathes on it. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:33.519 How many of you had boring Bible teachers? 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:36.559 Oh man, my seminary was full of them. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:41.599 And uh, and I was like, I could see why they were seminary professors because nobody else would hire them. 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:49.359 But I mean, we sit there and it's like we're going through the Old and New Testament survey, and so we're going through Old Testament, and it's like, dude, this is hot stuff. 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:51.039 This is fantastic. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.519 And it's like, you're making, you're killing me. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:56.400 And we're just thinking, oh, you're just killing me. 00:26:56.559 --> 00:26:58.079 It's just so boring. 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:01.599 The word of God needs to have the spirit on it. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:02.720 That's what changes life. 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:06.960 So he says, look, the word is gonna go out, and the spirit's gonna go out. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:10.720 Surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:11.599 Verse 6. 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:24.160 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:31.920 So Ezekiel is being commanded by the Lord to prophesy these words to the nation of Israel. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:34.000 But men and women, here we are. 00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:36.240 Here we are in the third millennium. 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:44.400 Here we are in the 21st century, and we are here today, and some of you are here today, and you feel like this. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:51.920 I know, I've been there too many times to count, where I am spiritually dead. 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:55.279 I mean, I I I like God, God's cool, you know. 00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:58.480 If he'll just stay out of my way, I'll stay out of his, you know. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:03.279 And I need the word, and I need the spirit. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:13.359 Because when you start opening up God's word and reading it for yourself, not just from me or from some pastor, it speaks to you. 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:18.400 Because you're called a priest and a king if you're a Jesus' disciple. 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:23.920 Now, if you're not a follower of Jesus yet, then you're not a priest or a king yet, but you're gonna become one. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:34.000 And when you do, breath from the Spirit of God is gonna enter you, and you're gonna quit looking around and going, why is everybody raising their hands in here and stuff? 00:28:34.160 --> 00:28:34.880 This is really weird. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:36.240 They got armpit problems? 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:37.680 I mean, what's the issue? 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:38.960 Try to be Superman? 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:42.559 Some of them are some people are supermen, some people are waiters, right? 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:43.440 But whatever. 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:46.160 You know, and and they're and you're gonna you're gonna get it. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:29:06.160 You're gonna get it because it's gonna be the Spirit of God that's gonna start to anoint you with a passion for intimacy with Jesus Christ, who loves you, who died for you, who wants to come and fill you with his spirit and set you free in new and powerful and exciting ways. 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:14.799 It's the best way to parent your children, it's the best way for your marriage, it's the best way for your college years, it's the best way to find a job. 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:18.880 Depending on Jesus, he's way smarter than you. 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:21.920 He's way smarter than you. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:28.400 And when you start having the mind of Christ, you start having insight into stuff. 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:30.240 They're like, where'd that come from? 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:45.359 I'm talking about as a doctor and a lawyer and a mechanic and a foreman of a construction company or whatever it is you do, that God will give you insight because you're now tapping into the reservoir of the Spirit of God for which you were created to be tapping into. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:47.119 That's what you were made for. 00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:48.720 It's exciting. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:50.720 So Israel hasn't discovered that. 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:52.000 Verse 7. 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:57.039 So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise. 00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:58.960 And suddenly a rattling. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:00.559 This is really weird. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:03.839 I mean, this is like one of the spookiest passages in the Bible, I think. 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:06.400 Oh, I'm not, I mean, I take that back. 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:09.039 The rest of Revelation is gonna be way spookier than this. 00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:12.400 And the bones came together, bone to bone. 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:21.680 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh started to come upon them, and the skin covered them over, but there was no breath in them yet. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:30.079 So he starts seeing physically they're coming together, but there's no spirit, and this rattling, listen now, it's the gathering of Israel. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:33.279 It's the gathering of Israel. 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:39.200 And the physical gathering of the nation of Israel really began about 145 years ago. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:49.119 The modern return to Israel by the Jews began in a trickle as early as 1871, when a few Jews began to leave Europe and Russia. 00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:53.599 By 1882, about 25,000 Jews had settled there. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:31:03.440 At the first Zionist Congress in 1897, led by Theodore Hersell, the goal of reclaiming the land for the Jewish people was officially adopted. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:08.880 By 1914, the number of Jews in the land was about 85,000. 00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:12.079 During World War I, it's a really interesting story. 00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:19.039 I was trying to get this straight yesterday when I was watching some stuff, but during World War I, the English were on the verge of losing the war. 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:26.160 England was desperate to find a rapid method for manufacturing TNT in smokeless gunpowder. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:39.039 A brilliant Jew named Shyme Wiseman invented a formula that made it possible for the rapid production of these vital materials, thus changing the course of the war. 00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:44.319 In return, David Lloyd George, representing the British government, told Dr. 00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:46.960 Wiseman to name the price. 00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:50.160 Rejecting personal reward, Dr. 00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:56.799 Weisman requested that the Palestine area be declared the international homeland for the Jewish people. 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:04.000 As a result, the Balfour Declaration was drawn up and signed on November 2nd, 1917. 00:32:04.640 --> 00:32:14.400 The famous letter said, quote, His Majesty's government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. 00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:19.119 After this signing, Jews began to pour into Palestine. 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:22.559 By 1932, there were over 180,000. 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:25.519 By 1935, 300,000. 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:28.480 By 1937, 430,000. 00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:31.759 And by 1945, over a half a million. 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:35.359 The British never kept their promise. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:43.119 But the United Nations, on May 14th, 1948, proclaimed the new nation of Israel. 00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:46.240 David Ben-Gurion was appointed Prime Minister, and Dr. 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:50.079 Shaim Weissman was elected president of the Provincial Council. 00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:55.920 Both the United States and Russia both recognized the new nation. 00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:06.160 The population was 2 million in 1960, 5 million in 1993, and today the population is over 8 million and growing. 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:10.319 Over 40% of the world's Jews now live in Israel. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:14.720 Prophetically, men and women, the bones are coming together. 00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:15.599 Now let me stop. 00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:19.440 No, fourth quarter. 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:20.880 Okay, fourth quarter. 00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:21.680 Time out. 00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:23.119 Okay, here's a timeout. 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:29.200 I do not advocate all that happens in Israel just because Israel is Israel. 00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:36.559 Just because Israel is the apple of the eye does not mean I advocate the way in which they've treated the Palestinians in that land. 00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:37.599