We're continuing our series this morning. This is the last sermon in our series entitled The Future is Bright. Just a little systematic overview of what the Bible says about the future. Not the short-term future, and not the local future. You know, there's ups and downs. I mean long-term, generally speaking, the future of the world and the future of human society. That's what we've been talking about for the last five sermons or so. And I hope that it's been a blessing to you. I hope that perhaps it's given you a few new things to chew on. But ultimately I hope that it changes your perspective, which then therefore changes your behavior in every area of life. That's why we're doing it. And today I wanna open up, we're gonna be in Romans, by the way, if you wanna get a head start there, Romans chapter 11, at least to begin. Today I wanna start off talking about a few problems in the contemporary church. Not problems that I see in our church locally, because we've addressed these things, but just problems generally. And the first one is date setting, date setting. This has been a problem in Christian churches for 2,000 years, honestly. I remember when, I don't remember it as a child, but I know that it took place when I was a child, a book that was written called 88 Reasons the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Yeah. And obviously, it was wrong. He did say that if he's wrong, then the Bible's wrong, which was, I felt like he bit off more than he could chew on that one. That particular book sold 4.5 million copies and was mailed out free to 300,000 ministers. It had a massive impact, and more than likely, Folks who were adults in the 80s probably remember that book and that scene, that season. He, of course, was wrong and he came back and he said that he had figured out his mistake. And that is that he didn't calculate for the year zero, like the Mayans did. He didn't count zero. And so he wrote a second book called The Final Shout, where he laid out reasons for why the rapture would take place in 1989. Two strikes. He eventually went with 1993. That eventually passed. And I don't know what happened to him. But bad, bad, bad, bad for the church. This date setting phenomena. It's not a new thing. There were Christians that predicted the end of the world in dire apocalypse. And the return of Jesus in the year 365. One person said that it would end in the year 500 based on his studies of the dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant. One guy said that it would end in 847, and when that didn't happen, they publicly flogged him, which I feel like is the right way to do it. You know, you made a mistake. This was really bad for everyone. Let's get your punishment over with quickly and publicly to teach everyone a lesson. But that's what happened to him. Of course, people predicted the end of the world in the year 1000, and who here remembers 2000? Why 2K? You know, I remember Y2K. You know, although during COVID, I thought if there's any time for the world to end, it's got to be now. This is strange. Yeah, date setting. That's a problem in the church. There's another problem, a little more philosophical, and that is what's called apocalypticism. It's an issue that's in human hearts, apocalypticism. It's in every major religion, in Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, for those of you who know what that is. And apocalypticism is sort of the idea that the end of the world is imminent, even within one's own lifetime. And when you go to the grocery stores, Do not buy the green bananas because you might not get a chance to eat them. Because the end of the world is nigh. Civilization is tumultuous and the end is certainly just around the corner. And this is prevalent in cults, obviously. Just about every cult is apocalyptic. It provides that sort of, you know, better act fast momentum for building a cult. Sort of like the deal is $19.99 and you have till tonight to decide. You know, things are urgent. That apocalypticism gives that sense of urgency where people can rally around some sort of crazy cult leader like David Koresh in the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, which I'm sure some of you remember. It was apocalyptic. In the 1500s, there was a movement of Christians in Munster, Germany. They said that Munster was going to be the New Jerusalem, and they caused all sort of havoc politically. They were revolutionaries, the end of the world is nigh, and the church decided to hang them in cages on the walls of the church up really high. And you can actually go to Munster today and see the cages on the outside of the church building really high up in the air. Sort of very graphic, very medieval. In 1844, a Baptist preacher named William Miller predicted the end of the world. and everyone sold off all their possessions. You know, why save if the world is ending? Why concern yourself with the next generation or the next generation? Why build institutions? Why invest in institutions? Right? I mean, maybe you tutor a child, but you don't start an after-school tutoring program which makes a long-term, multi-generational difference in a neighborhood. You don't invest in institutions. You don't sacrifice for the long term. You don't say no today for your grandchildren tomorrow when the end of the world is coming, or just around the corner. See, that's what this apocalypticism does. I mean, you go to church, but you're not necessarily going to sacrifice long-term to establish a multi-generational church for your great-grandkids. You're just going to go to church like a hummingbird goes to a hummingbird feeder until it dries up. That's what apocalypticism does in people's minds. This William Miller predicting the end of the world in 1844, and all this apocalyptic gloom and doom, he had the people buy Ascension robes is what he called them, white ascension robes. And they all went out in these pastures and waited for the end of the world. And today it's known, that event is known as the Great Disappointment. And that's one of the pillars of how the Seventh-day Adventists got started, that particular movement. I remember Heaven's Gate, they all committed suicide because they believed death was the portal to the mothership, which was in space. I think it was a comet that they misinterpreted as a mothership, and they all committed mass suicide in tennis shoes, matching tennis shoes. Do you all remember that? It was pretty big in the news a few decades ago. But apocalypticism isn't always crazy. You know, not all apocalyptic movements have communism and polygamy and political revolution, though many do. Sometimes it's just apocalypticism just is on the back burner. It's more of a sedative than something that makes people go crazy because people just sort of kind of believe it, but really what they're about is their job and their, you know, their boat. But there is a crazy, hysterical apocalypticism. But in rich, wealthy America, I feel like it actually acts as a sedative. Is everyone listening to me? Y'all paying attention? It acts as a sedative that just puts people to sleep and keeps them in their house. keeps them from saving and keeps them from thinking about long-term strategies and really investing in institutions for the future. They're sort of, just sort of like, ah, you know, the things are going bad, and let's just eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. I think that short-term thinking, that lack of long-term strategy, that lack of long-term willingness to sacrifice for the big picture, It does come from this sort of vein of date setting and apocalypticism, which is not a biblical philosophy. It is a philosophy which has invaded the church. There's another, a third problem, and we're almost done, but that's this back burner sort of assumed belief that everything is doomed to apostatize eventually. It's called inevitable apostasy, that we can start a Christian college, but eventually the liberals are going to take it over and it's going to apostasy. We can start a school, but eventually it's going to die. I can have a family, but eventually it's just going to deteriorate and go down like the Titanic. This does seem to be what's going on in Western civilization with many institutions, right? But it is not inevitable when you have the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the gospel. The reason I believe By and large, you see inevitable apostasy. I mean, how many churches are multi-generational? How many churches keep their kids? Will we keep our kids? I don't know. So far, no. So far, no. But maybe we will. Maybe when kids grow up in here, they will stay with us. I don't know. But churches typically don't keep their kids. What's going on? Is it because churches are doomed to fail? Or is it because there's something in our thinking that is throwing off our behavior and throwing off the way we live? That's my... thesis for this whole series, that we need to reject this idea of inevitable apostasy, defeatism, negativity, date-setting, apocalypticism, and instead stop trusting our eyes and trust what the text of scripture says. Amen? Yeah, and you don't have to agree completely with me, obviously, but at least chew on it. At least chew on it. I mean, what would Joseph have done if while in the waterless pit, thrown there by his betraying brothers, if he would have determined the future of his life, developed his philosophy of history, not from the visions that God gave him of supremacy and victory, but from his surroundings in the waterless pit. He would have been very negative, murmuring, complaining, not had much of a long-term strategy. Here I am in a pit. I guess this is what I have for my life. But instead of trusting his eyes, he trusted the vision that God gave him. He walked by faith instead of sight. That's the key. We can't look at the TV. We can't look at our personal circumstances. God's ways are not our ways, they are higher than our ways and they are inscrutable. We can't figure out the future with our experience or with our reason. We have to know what is in store for the church through the text of revealed scripture, amen? What if Abraham would have said to the promises of God, well, you know, but what about the age of my wife? And determine his view of the future based on the circumstances rather than the revealed will of God. What if Israel would have looked out of the promised land and read all and heard all that God had promised them, but determined their eschatology not by what God said to them, but by the giants in the land? What would have happened if they did that? They did do that, right? That's the problem, that's the problem. We cannot determine our view of the future, which will then determine our behavior in the future by what our personal experience is, but by the Bible. I hope you, I'll say it 20 more times, then we'll all get it, right? We get it, hopefully you get it. So today, we're gonna look at the text of scripture. We're not gonna look at our feelings about tomorrow. We're not gonna look at what our eyes can see or our ears can hear. We're gonna look at the text of scripture. Romans chapter 11, starting at verse 11. Romans 11, 11. All right. This is a complicated passage. There's a few different views on this, just for full vulnerability with you all, but I believe this is what it is saying, and I hope that I can help you make sense of all this. Look at what Paul says, and I'm gonna read it and talk through it. I think that's probably the easiest way for us to get through this. So Paul asks, did they, that's Israel, stumble in order that they might fall? Is God done with Israel? has God written off Israel. They killed the Messiah, they rejected his promises, they forsook their inheritance. Is that it? No, when he says Israel, this is very important, and this is something you need, honestly, to be able to read the Bible well. The Bible uses the word Israel in different ways. When the Bible uses the word Israel in the Old Testament, it can be referring to the church, the church of the Old Testament, which was comprised of a nation, Israel. The other nations were not the nation of God. They were not those near to God. They were far and cut off from the covenants of God. Makes sense? There was a church in the Old Testament and it was comprised of one nation. That's not how it is today. That's how it was. And if you wanted to join the church, you had to become a Jew. You had to assimilate eventually into Jewish culture and customs and etc. However, when the Bible talks about Israel, it's also sometimes not talking about the church, necessarily. It's talking about all ethnic Israel as a whole, the nation of Israel in its ethnicity. Would you nod your head if you're following along here? You could be an Israelite in the Old Testament, like Ishmael was for a minute, but then reject your inheritance, reject the promises of God, apostatize, and be cut off from Israel, and eventually become a different nation or assimilated into another nation. that could happen to you and there's a lot of ethnic Israelites that rejected Jesus and God's promises in the first century and were cut off by God. A massive pruning of ethnic Israel took place in the first century. They crucified Jesus along with the help of the government of the Romans. So Paul's asking now that the Jews have largely rejected Jesus, ethnic Jews, and the gospel's going to the Gentiles, and the church is being filled up with Gentiles of other nations, what about the Jews? What about my family? What about my kinfolk? What about my heritage? I mean, should Paul care about that? Of course Paul should care about that. How would you like to be a tiny little remnant in an ethnic? I mean, how would you like to be an Arab Christian right now? There's not a lot of Arab Christians. There used to be a lot of Arab Christians, which we will talk about. later in the sermon. But if you're an Arab Christian now, you would kind of be like, wow, I wish my parents and my grandparents and my auntie and my uncles would turn to Jesus, too. What about them, God? What about them? That's what Paul's saying. What about the rest of Israel? Amen? Amen? All right. He says, did all of them reject Jesus so that God is just done with Israel? He's writing them off, he's done. By no means, no, no means. Rather, through their trespass, the killing of Jesus and the rejection of God's promises, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Okay, that's good for us, amen? Amen? All right. So, but here's the thing, so as to make Israel jealous. So was there rejection so that God would cut them off and be done with them in the future? Is the nation of Israel done for? No, Paul says the salvation of the, they were cut off to save the Gentiles, and the salvation of the Gentiles is to make Israel jealous. So there's a positive view of the future that Paul sees here. Let's continue to read verse 12. Now, you've got to follow along with this. Now, if their trespass, the killing of Jesus and the rejection of God's covenant, means riches for the cosmos, riches for the world, when Paul looks out at the future, what are the terms that he uses to describe the future? Riches for the world. You see that? Is that positive or that's negative? That's positive, okay? And if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, when Paul looks out at the future, does he see doom and gloom or does he see something that he calls riches for the Gentiles? You see how his view of the future is very positive? Of course, he's using expressions like riches and fullness to refer to the salvation of the Gentile nations, which we've talked about in the last sermon. Then he says, If their rejection meant the salvation of the Gentiles and the riches for this world, how much more then will their ethnic Israel's full inclusion mean? So you can see when Paul looks out at the future, if I've got this right, he sees the nation of Israel rejecting Jesus, the gospel going to the Gentile nations, they receiving the riches of his blessings, and then he shifts and sees the nation of Israel being fully included too. He sees the world Christianized, all the nations of the world Christianized. Amen, do y'all see this? All right, okay, good. Acts chapter 28, verse 25, just a little proof text for us. The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet. This is Paul speaking to the Jews. Go to this people and say, you will indeed hear, but never understand. And you will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull. Verse 28. Therefore, can we go to verse 28? Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen. And Christianity is the biggest religion in the world right now. It's not automatic. It's not instantaneous. God is growing a vineyard here, right? It's not the big bang. Oh, you know, bang and everything happens. He's growing a vineyard. He's cultivating. He's pruning it. He's grafting in. It takes time and generations. But they will listen. They will listen. But back to our original text, what does it mean that the salvation of the Gentiles is going to make Israel jealous. Very interesting, very covenantal language, very bride marriage language, and there's a lot to it that we don't have time to get into. But what does that mean? What does that mean? Galatians 3.13. We're gonna be done with the hard stuff here in a second, but just try to focus through all this. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, curse is everyone who hanged on a tree. Jesus is cursed, so that, pay attention, Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. See, this is where I've developed my hermeneutic for reading the Bible. It's called that's mine, okay? It's a Cajun hermeneutic. For those of you who don't get it, I'm saying that's mine, right? That's mine. When I read the Old Testament, I said, well, that promise was for Abraham, that promise was for Abraham, but now the promises for Abraham are for the Gentiles, and I'm a child of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ, amen? So that's mine, and that's mine, and that's mine, and that's mine, and that's mine, and every time I read a promise I say, and that's mine. Very simple Bible reading, a lot of people read their Bible and they're like, that's for the Jews, that's for me, Jews, not me, back in the Old Testament, New Testament, no, it's all mine, and it's all yours. I wish you'd believe it, I hope you believe it, it's all yours. and your children's. That's what he said to Abraham. That's what he said to Abraham. Why did Jesus die? So that the blessing might go to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith, which is the culmination of the blessings. What's the culmination of the blessings of Abraham? You get God. Right? I will be God to you and to your children after you. I will draw near to you. I will be for you. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. That's for you, Cajuns. That's for you, African Americans. That's for you, Americans. That's for you, everybody. That's for you, Arabs and Persians and everybody. I'm running out of examples here, but that's everybody. Amen? What does Paul, looking out at the world, see? He sees riches for the Gentiles. He sees riches for the world. He sees the blessing of Abraham going to the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit, ultimately. But what are exactly the blessings of Abraham? Generally speaking, it's I'll be God to you and your children after you. I will invade your family tree. I will invade your nation, your ethnicity, and prune out those who are wicked and reject me, and gather in those who accept me. That's what it means, ultimately. But there's some specifics in the Bible, too, and Deuteronomy 27 and 28 lays out some specifics. I will give you national security, economic success, high birth rates, low infant mortality rates. You'll be the creditor and not the debtor. You'll be the head and not the tail. I will bless you in the kitchen, I'll bless you in the field, I'll give you enough food to eat and provisions and resources and prosperity. These are the specific blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, and it's for the Gentiles. So, follow with me. Israel the nation rejected Jesus so that the blessings of Abraham, all those prosperity and those blessings could go to the Gentile nations. And as the Gentile nations are folded into Christ, and as the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters of the sea, you will see prosperity in the Gentile nations. and Israel will one day look and say, oh, hold on now, those were our promises, that's mine, that's mine too. We rejected our birthright and look at it, the Gentile nations are getting it. We won't back in and they'll trust in Jesus Christ and we'll see the culmination of the Christianizing of the world. That's what I think the future holds. I think I made a pretty good case for it. Yeah, I think I have made a pretty good case for it. Now, I didn't come up with this myself, it's just classic reformed, eschatology, honestly, for those of you who know what that means. But Pastor Brandon, aren't the blessings of Abraham that go to the Gentiles just spiritual? Now, I think that this is just a very dumb thing to say for Americans in particular. I would get it if you are under persecution in Nigeria, and you're reading all the promises of blessing for Christians. I mean, I would have a different message and say, hey, I know, I know, right now you're going through a Job season. That does happen. God's ways are not our ways. They're inscrutable, and it's not a one-for-one thing, but generally speaking, if Nigeria will trust in the law of God, righteousness will exalt a nation, right? Generally speaking, but there's gonna be hard times. You know, God puts you in a pit before he puts you in the palace. That happens all the time. But for an American to say that, that's just a thing. I just think that it's ungrateful to say, well, that means the blessings of Abraham come to me and to my people. It's just spiritual. It's not material or earthly blessings. I mean, look around at you. Your closet is nicer than Solomon's palace. Your clothes are in a better environment than Solomon ever was. Air conditioned, dehumidified climate. and it's not physical blessings. No, this is an ingratitude. It's ingratitude. But honestly, it's also just not rational to say that spiritual blessings don't come along with physical blessings. That's not true. It's not true biblically, and it's not true statistically. Listen to just a few verses. Proverbs 14, 34. Righteousness, that is following God's law, exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. That's a smaller group than a nation. Deuteronomy 29.9, therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do. Ephesians 6.2, just in case you thought this was an Old Testament thing, honor your father and mother, this is the first commandment with a promise. It's not the only commandment with a promise, they all have promises, but this is the first one written down. That it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Referring to planet Earth. Proverbs 2.21, for the upright will inhabit the land. and those with integrity will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it." Spiritual blessings come along with inheritance and victory and prosperity. Now, there's a danger in that, amen? The danger is that when he blesses you, you grow up to forget the Lord, and then he has to discipline you, and he's probably going to do that pretty hard and fast to America. That's probably what's going to happen in the short term. You cannot separate spiritual blessings from physical blessings. Amen? Are y'all still awake? All right. You're going to have a long Lord's Day. I still got tons of time here. I want you to be convinced of this. If you marry, marry a girl and you stay faithful to her and you raise children with just her and you follow God's commandments, I will guarantee in America you are gonna be richer than your average bear. I guarantee it. You're not gonna be paying any alimony, right? You're only gonna be supporting your own wife and kids. You're going to be wealthy and happier and peaceful if you follow God's commandments. That's why it's called a law of liberty and a law of life. Now it's generally speaking, he's gonna give you some trials and tests. You're gonna have to go through some Job moments. He has more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to saving you. But generally speaking, spiritual blessings go along with physical, tangible blessings. That's why I think, in general, one day Israel will, as a nation, as a whole, see the blessings of the Gentile nations that come from Jesus and be, well, we want some of that too. That's jealousy, that's what it means when it says that. Anybody here ever been to a communist country? I have. At least a country that was just coming out of communism. I've been to Serbia and Romania and Hungary, just as they were coming out of communism. Serbia was still quite, and I would just tell you, nobody comes back home from a communist country and thinks, you know, we ought to try that. You know, nobody ever does that. It does not provoke anyone to jealousy, because it doesn't work. You know, I have a few Persian friends now that we were able to baptize. You all know those guys. You know, they say to me over and over again, they say they were in Iran living. And I always just wonder, why is the West so blessed? Why are they so blessed? Why are the Muslim countries in darkness and tyranny? But yet over there in the Christian countries, they're prosperous and wealthy. Now they recognize that we are apostatizing and that we're not receiving our wealth as a stewardship and are forgetting the Lord. But they're just like, but what explains it historically? You see how it provokes a sort of yearning and an attraction from the peoples of the world when God blesses his people. I think that can happen on a local level as well. If a church loves one another and is enjoying peace and victory over their sins, that those outside of the church, your friends and family and your neighbors and your co-workers, could look and be, they could hate you for it, right? out of jealousy and envy, but they could also be attracted to it and be like, what's going on in that person's life? Everything seems to be fine with them. Even when they go through something hard, they seem to have some sort of an unspoken hope and joy. What's going on in that life? And it attracts. You see, that's what the blessings of God are intended to do. They are an intractional force in our lives used for evangelism. That's what he means when he says Jews will be one day provoked to jealousy. Romans chapter 11, verse 12. What happens next? Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their, say that next word, full inclusion mean? I like that. Full inclusion. Verse 15. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, Their rejection means the reconciliation of the world. When Paul looks into the future, what does he see? He sees the eventual reconciliation of the world. Now, I don't think this has been fulfilled. It's very universal and very epic in the terminology, but he sees the eventual reconciliation of the world, but then he sees this. What will their acceptance mean but life from the dead, which is an expression Paul uses for regeneration or the new birth. He sees the future and he sees the nations reconciled to God and to one another. The reversal of Babel, amen? And he sees Israel, Israel's nation as well. And he sees the whole world experiencing regeneration, which was prophesied in the scripture. The regeneration of all things. I don't think that's just a tiny little language referring to a small group of people in a small part of the world. I do believe this is universal language referring to what will happen in the future. Amen. And that's why I think the future is bright. In the meantime, though, Romans 11, 25. In the meantime, lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers. A partial hardening has come upon Israel. And we know this by experience. There are very few ethnic Israelites who are Christians. You see Africa becoming Christian. You see China becoming Christian. You're more likely to be a Christian in Beijing if you're born in Beijing than if you're born in Boston. That's what's going on in the world. And I do think the prosperity in the inheritance will flow. You can see this in several African nations. They have Jesus in their constitutions. They have a birth rate which is above, what's it called? Replacement rate, whereas we have a replacement rate, it's like 1.6, we're dying as a civilization. We're shipping our inheritance to Eastern nations and to China. You see this, you see nations turning to Christ. The West is apostatizing and nations are turning to Christ. And you see, I think you see his blessings flowing there. Meanwhile, Israel as a whole continues to reject Jesus as a whole, generally. There is a hardening on that particular nation, I think. But, until, here's the key phrase, the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. You see that? I don't think that's happened yet. But when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, when Paul looks down at the future, does he see a tiny little bit of persecuted Christians barely hanging on for dear life, waiting to be rescued? Or does he see the fullness of the Gentiles? And when that happens, this is verse 26, and in this way, all Israel will be saved. Very universal, big picture, massive salvation for the world. You say, but Pastor Brandon, I got time, it's 11.32, I got time, this is so fun to me right here. You say, this is the good news, this is part of the good news, okay? IMHO. What about the Arabs? You know, what about the Arabs? Not a lot of Arab Christians. I asked my Persian friends, I said, how come Persians come to our church from UL, no Arabs? And they said, there's no Arab Christians. They're not gonna, that's not gonna ever happen. I was like, well, now don't get too negative, okay? Because, you know, the Arabs used to be largely Christian. Did you know that many of the Arab tribes in the 3rd and 4th century were evangelized by monasteries and by missionaries and many of them left the Arab nations and joined politically and ethnically with the Byzantium Empire which was Christian. How did Muhammad know about Mary and Jesus and Abraham and Moses? Because he grew up in a Christianized world. Islam, which spread in the 700s, is a Christian heresy. So the Arabs weren't always not Christian. There was a season where there was massive Christian influence among the Arab communities of Saudi Arabia and Yemen and those various places. It's just that today they have fallen for a Christian heresy, much the same way America has fallen for the Christian heresy of secularism. Listen to Isaiah 60 verse 2. And nations shall come to your light. referring to the church and to Jesus. And kings, to the brightness of your rising. A multitude of camels shall cover you. I like that. There's a certain type of people riding on camels. A multitude of camels shall cover you. Young camels of Midian and Ephah. Those are Arab tribes. Those are Arab tribes. Isn't that something? I love it. All those from Sheba shall come. We'll mention them in a second. They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord. What about Egypt and Egyptians? Now there's been a long Christian history of Christians in Egypt. The Coptic church But listen to this prophecy, Isaiah 19, 24. In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria. Assyrians make up modern day Turkey and Syria, not Syria, Turkey and Iraq and a few other places. A blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands. and Israel my inheritance. Did you see the promises for the nations? Don't look so glum, guys. The world's going to be saved. Acts chapter 2 mentions the Persians and the Medes by name. Psalm 68 verse 31. What about Africa or the Sudan? and Ethiopia, which in those days spread out much further than it does today, nobles shall come from Egypt. Cush, that's the Sudan, and ancient Ethiopia, Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. Isaiah 66, 18, for I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory, and I will set a sign among them, and from them I will send survivors to the nations to Tarshish. That's Spain, where we, you think of today as from Spanish people and Moroccan people, but ancient Spain also included the descendants of the Phoenicians, which we call today the Celts. I lost my spot there. And Poole, which is modern-day Libya and northern Africa, and Lude, which is Turkey and eastern Greece, who draw the bow to Tubal, that's the Caucasus Mountains, where Caucasians come from, and Armenia, in Javan, that's the Greeks, to the, just in case we missed anybody, to the coastlands far away. That's the Olmecs, which were running the show over here in the Western Hemisphere around the time of Isaiah. Psalm 72, verse 10, may the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute. May the kings of Sheba, that's Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and Sheba, that's Nubia, and the Sudan and south down the Nile, bring gifts. I think that's great news, amen. No, but we got a lot of work to do. We got a lot of work to do. We need to save up for the next generation. We need to build institutions. We need to fight for our institutions. We need to sacrifice for them so that we can raise up more disciples for the next generation and the next generation because we got a job to do. It's a huge task, the Great Commission. Acts chapter one, verse eight. But you will receive power. when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and Samaria, and Acadiana, and to the end of the earth. And when I hear that, I have my hopes very high. Amen? All right, let's all stand. If the musicians would come up here and help me out, I'm gonna close in prayer, and then we will sing whatever Tim has in store for us. Let's pray. Father, we are intrigued and we are excited and we are happy about your plan for the world and we are especially happy that we get to participate in it during our time. Just as Mordecai told Esther, we were born for such a time as this. I pray, Father, that we would trust and obey and pray and get to work in this great commission, reaching Acadiana, for you and the rest of the world. We ask that you would help us in this. In Jesus' name, Amen.