Welcome to Keep It 100 podcast with Sean and Christa Smith. Join us in the space where we
take on real issues with real insight and real inspiration. This podcast is for those not looking
for temporary relief to change circumstance, but revelation to forever change lives.
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Keep It 100 with Sean and Christa Smith.
Hey, what's going on everybody? We're so excited you join us. Keep It 100 Tribe. We love you guys.
You know, this week we really wanted to have a conversation that was really apropos for the
moment and the hour we're in. But before we jump into what I think is a really important conversation
for today, we have a really fun announcement and it's just really a reminder that we're doing
Momentum, the conference 2024, which if you've not heard that, get on board for that. But I actually
want to take a moment to plug our monthly gatherings. We only have two left for the rest of 2023.
Our next one is October 20th and we're so expecting for this. We're calling this a night
of healing. And if you live in the Bay Area, you know anyone that lives in the Bay Area,
we want to encourage you to get in the room at Sequoia Community Church, 7 p.m. It's a free
gathering and we're really believing for God to touch people. We're believing for breakthrough
and we're just believing for the power of God to rule and reign. And so we really want to invite
people to come that need a touch, not just physically, but maybe emotional healing, some
mental healing, just need a breakthrough in their life. We believe we serve the God who is our
deliverer. We serve a God, the great physician. And so we just know he's in the room as we gather.
And when that happens, people's lives get changed and bodies get healed. So we're coming in full of
faith. We want to invite you to join us October 20th at Sequoia Community Church and be a part of
our monthly Momentum Gathering. We're going to be having our large annual gathering in January.
We'll be talking more about that. We're really excited about that. But we really want to hit
these last two gatherings of 2023 because we believe as we continue to contend for a move of
God in the Bay Area, we're really beginning to see things open up and it's really exciting.
And you know, I think that's so important, Christa, because in Acts chapter three,
what broke the revival of the first century church wide open was a healing. The guy who was laying
at the gate, beautiful, Peter and John said, look at us. They said, rise up and walk. And he walked.
And we just really have felt that healing is going to be so significant to not only break an open,
just I believe a harvest for this generation that's emerging that needs that reference point,
but I believe specifically for the Bay, we need that guy at the gate, beautiful,
to rise up on his feet. So we're asking God to come heal. So bring the sick, bring friends,
come and let's just experience God together. And so I'm so glad October 20th, seven o'clock, Oakland,
California. It's a free event. You know, we're just expected for what God's going to do. So we're
excited to see you there with us. And so it gets your getting your seat and invite your friend.
And we're just excited for what God's going to do. You know, we're going to be having a conversation
today. We all know there's a major conflict happening in Israel. And yet there's a lot of
Christians and people in general that don't understand the significance of that. We're going
to be speaking to you as a believer, as a follower of Jesus, one that says, you know, I love the word
of God. I believe the word of God, but I think there's a lot of us that don't have an understanding
fully of why Israel is so significant. And so we wanted to do a snapshot approach, a really
digestible approach for people to really have a biblical understanding, a theological understanding
on why Israel is so important. I'm going to be doing a bit of an interview with Sean, but before
I begin to ask him some questions, I really just kind of want to set the current context as to even
why we're having this conversation and why it's so important. In early October, war broke out
between Israel and Hamas, the militant Islamic group that's controlled Gaza since 2006. Hamas
fighters fired rockets into Israel and stormed southern Israeli cities and towns across the
border of the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring hundreds of soldiers and civilians and taking
dozens of hostages. The attack took Israel by surprise. And though the state quickly mounted
a deadly retaliatory operation, one day after the October 7th attack, the Israeli cabinet formally
declared war against Hamas, followed then by a directive from the defense minister to the
Israeli defense forces to carry out complete siege of Gaza. So that's the background when we really
begin to understand why are we having this conversation day? It's because of what just took place
on October 7th and what has ensued since the initial attack. So to really break it down even
farther and just give you a little bit more history. So we're becoming more informed socially
about what has happened and even the historical relationship between these nations. The Israeli
Palestinian conflict dates back to the end of the 19th century. In 1947, the United Nations adopted
resolution 181 known as the partition plan, which sought to divide the British mandate of Palestine
into Arab and Jewish states. On May 14th, 1948, the state of Israel was then created,
sparking the first Arab-Israeli war. The war ended in 1949 with Israel's victory, but then 750,000
Palestinians were displaced and the territory was divided into three parts, the state of Israel,
the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip. So when we're understanding this is the
historical background, there has been a tumultuous relationship between these nations for decades.
So who in the world is Hamas then? Okay, so let me quickly break down that Hamas is actually an
Islamic militant movement and one of the Palestinian territories of two major political parties. It
governs more than 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but the group is actually best known
for its armed resistance to Israel. You know, Christa, that is so helpful because I think a lot
of us don't understand the history and obviously this Israel-Palestinian kind of tug of war over it,
it leaves a lot of us scratching our heads, but it's important for us to understand there are
Palestinian Christians. Yes. There are Palestinian good, great people. Yes. And Hamas does not
represent all of Palestine. We're familiar, some great friends of ours, in particular, her parents
have literally been forerunners in Iran with the great revival. So there's great moves of God
taking place in both. So it's not even so much this thing of on a political war level, do you
side here, do you side there? It's understanding the bigger scheme really for what God has for
Israel. I'm so glad you're kind of giving us that history, but yet there still begs the question.
And I'm so glad that we're talking about this. You know, and that's so good because there's
people that love the Lord on both sides of this, right? And we're just trying to help people
understand what does the Bible say, what's happened historically, and really just bring,
I think, knowledge that's going to help people kind of understand the current conflict. And I think
if anyone's like me, right, you've kind of wondered why does the church play such an importance on
standing with Israel? You hear that all the time, like, standing with Israel, we're praying with
Israel. And you're like, why? Like, help me understand that. And that's really something
we're going to try to do for the Keep it One Hundred tribe today is we're going to try to help you
understand what the Bible says about it. And you've probably even seen some believers that even
maybe it seems a bit odd or kind of maybe bizarre. And you're like, why are you so aligned with
Israel? And there's a love of Israel. There's a love of the Jewish culture. And it might seem
a little bizarre. It might seem a bit out of sorts rather than just showing allegiance to Israel
without really knowing the why it's important to get God's heart for Israel and to understand
Israel's biblical importance even to you and me as individuals. So that is really the backdrop.
And I just think that's an important context and a background to really create for the listeners
to understand this conversation that we're about to have. Sean, I have a question for you.
Really, I think this starts off this very important conversation for what's happening right now.
Explain to all of us, what is the importance of Israel? Well, first of all, I just got to say,
there were several years back I went to Israel for the first time. And when I first went to Israel,
I have to admit I was largely ignorant of a lot of things as it relates to Israel. And I just thought,
hey, I'm just going to love God. I'm going to walk, circumvent with scripture. I'm just going to,
like, love my neighbor as myself. I'm just going to obey Jesus. And I'm good. But when I got over
there to Israel, and I happened to go with a great minister and ministry that ministers to there,
I began to realize there was a whole lot more. So first of all, I just want to challenge any
of our listeners that part of it is as Christians, you have to understand you have a different script
to follow. I was seeing some people in particular, and they were kind of like doing this thing,
I think, where BLM where it was kind of pro-Palestinian, let's do this, let's do that.
And people might say, hey, you know, out of sensitivity to different races, because BLM is
kind of siding with the Palestinian, should I? And I think the bottom line is you have to first say,
as Christians, you have a different script to follow. And the reason why I stand with Israel
matters so much, and we're going to give a lot of different quick hitters on this. I think one of it
is to understand that Jesus himself is going to step foot in the second coming in Jerusalem,
in Israel. He's not going to come back to the Bible Belt in the United States of America,
although we know by his spirit, he touches people there. He's not going to step foot in some sort of
the largest church in the world, I think would probably be the Asian church. He's not going to
set foot in places where we think he would. The Bible is pretty clear where he's going to place
his foot. And he is going to actually reign physically over the globe from the focal point
of Jerusalem. So even though right now you see this place dominated, boo, with strife and violence
ever since the days of Abraham, we really should be concerned over this kind of somewhat say tiny
speck of land because of that. But let's back up and talk about some other things. Number one,
Israel's interactions with God is how we understand the character of God, because the Bible of the
Old Testament was the God of Israel. That's what he was known as. And so when you understand God's
mercy, his righteousness, reliability, his faithfulness, we see his wrath, we see his love,
we see his goodness, glory and power. It was always demonstrated towards Israel. And so we see that
the Old Testament of the Bible, which is an important part of scripture, includes all these
stories and prophecies related to the land of Israel and the land of Israel central, obviously,
to the history of Jewish people. And the Bible contains it. Another obvious reason is, hey,
Jesus emerged from Israel. Prophets told that God would come down and he would be an Israelite whose
lineage could be traced back directly through all these great patriarchs, Abraham and that whole
thing. And obviously, when I went to Jerusalem, Jerusalem as a city is obviously a city of immense
religious significance. It's a place where Jesus was crucified. Obviously, he came up out of there.
He was resurrected there. It is believed obviously to contain the tomb of Jesus. And obviously,
like myself, a lot of people are able to go to Jerusalem and retrace the steps of Jesus. And
when I was there, people say, what do you feel was so special about Israel? And I shared with
people, Christa, that I didn't know my dad as an adult to an adult. He was taken out of the picture
when I was in grade school. But when I go to his hometown of Orkney, Oklahoma, it brings me closer
to my father to know that he walked these streets. He went to this high school. He played baseball at
this field. Something else happened and my relatives are telling me stories. So I am able to
feel closer to my earthly father by going to his homeland. So I think Jerusalem, as I went there,
just had a significance, is it caused me to feel closer to Jesus. But I want to say to you, why,
also putting it back on you, why do you think from your thought process that Israel is significant
as well? I love this because I think it really focuses, it causes us to focus on God's covenant
with Abraham. And the primary and arguably the most compelling reason why we should care about
Israel is because of covenant. And this irrevocable bond between two parties, in this case, between
God and the descendants of Abraham, it's directly related to you and I. God made covenant with his
people, Israel, to make them a great nation. And he would send them a savior to rescue Israel from
oppression. And that savior ushered in a new religion, Christianity. And Israel was no longer
the sole recipient of God's grace and care. And yet Israel is still important to a full understanding
of God and the Christian faith, which I think is really key for people to understand that God
has chosen Israel for his treasured possession out of all of the peoples who are on the face of the
earth. And we find that in Deuteronomy 14 too. We must get to know his beloved people for at least
that reason. And the reason is of covenant. So consider Israel as a microcosm of all mankind,
how God speaks, relates to, and deals with Israel is a pattern for how he speaks, relates to,
and deals with the rest of the world. It really is a picture of who God is with all of us.
You know, it's so true. And I love that you say that it is a microcosm because that's why the Old
Testament has value to us because we see how God spoke to Israel. And we understand, I love that
covenant that he said to Abraham, he said, I will bless you and I will make your descendants a
blessing. And the descendants of Abraham are, is Israel. It is the Israelites. And in spite of the
repeated fallings of Israel, I'm speaking of in terms of biblical context right now, there still
remains a plan and a purpose for that nation. Just like despite the fallings in your life or my life,
there still remains a plan and a purpose for each of us. And second Timothy says this, that our
faithlessness does not nullify the faithfulness of God. Somebody said, thank you, Jesus.
And really the entire storyline of the Bible is about Israel. It's about faith. It's about
covenant. And to understand salvation came first for the Jews, Romans 1 16 and Romans 11 11. And
thank God the Gentile church has been included. The verse that we'll share later, but it talks
about that we were engrafted in the vine. It includes the plans that God has for us as well
as for Israel. So question following that, cause I think that's a great like baseline. What's another
factor that should influence our opinion toward Israel? You know, I think it really comes to the
fact that God chose Israel to be his people. So we have to agree with God's sovereign decision to
really understand why, why is it important? I think you have to go back to the Garden of Eden,
when God made man and told him that he could eat anything but the fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good of evil. And of course, after the disobedience, the fall, God made a way for mankind
to be reconciled to himself. But God knew that the only way that man could be reconciled to himself,
mankind, that is male and female, would be for him to do it himself. No man would be able to do it.
So it must be God. So through Israel seed, and you'll see that phrase over and over and over,
God would raise someone who would crush the serpent's head, Satan, and he would sovereignly
choose that seed that would come from the house of Abraham. That's Genesis 3 15. So you fast forward
now to God's promise, what you were talking about, Christa, and it says, I will bless those who bless
you. I will curse him who curses you. And in you, God speaking to Abraham, all the families of the
earth will be blessed. That's now Genesis 12 3. And then God said, lift up your eyes and look for all
the land which you see I've given it to you and your descendants forever. But you got to understand
what is the devil tried to do? The devil throughout history has tried to annihilate Jewish people,
Israel, so that Jesus cannot return. So you saw that all like Philistines would attack the Israelites,
the Moabites would attack, right? All these different groups, because the enemy was trying
to stop Jesus's birth, but he's now still doing it to stop Jesus's return. So it really puts a
whole new perspective on things like the Holocaust in World War II. And why did Hitler get so demon
possessed? And I know we're going deep for you guys listening, but you ever thought why did Hitler
get so demonized that he wanted to perform a genocide against God's people? Why is there such
hatred? You know, it's called anti-Semitism. And I believe it's just a tactic of the enemy to get us
to devalue Israel's place in God's overall scheme of human history. You know, and I love that you
talked about Genesis 12, 3, I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse you
and on all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. And I think that's a really important verse
because the scripture really is telling us right there that if we bless Israel and her people,
those blessings will be returned to us. So really as we stand with Israel, we pray with Israel,
we bless Israel, we're actually acting on scripture and we're aligning ourselves with what the word of
God says, which is a powerful posture as a follower of Jesus, right? And as we read in the Bible,
those blessings are then going to be returned upon us. And we can't forget that Psalm 122,
6 says, we're told to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. So again, scripture really guides us
in that posture of that God blesses those who bless Israel. You know, I want to give just some
scriptures that I think will back it up. And one of the key things to note is that really biblical
prophecy comes to life in Israel. Israel's mentioned in the Bible over 2,500 times. It's all the stories,
lessons, parables through scripture. And there's different scriptures that talk about it. For
instance, Zechariah 14, 1 through 4 says, the day of the Lord is coming Jerusalem when your possessions
will be plundered, divided up within your walls. I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to fight
against it. City will be captured. Houses ransacked, women raped, half the city will go into exile,
but the rest of the people will not be taken. But now verse three, then the Lord will go out and
fight against those nations as he fights on the day of battle. And that day his feet will stand on
the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives will be split into east to west, forming
a great valley with half the mountain moving north, half moving south. Obviously these are prophetic
passages that are speaking towards Jesus's second return. Amos 9, 14 and 15 says, I will restore
the fortunes of my people Israel. They shall rebuild ruined cities, inhabit them. They shall
plant vineyards, drink their wine, they shall make gardens, eat fruit. I will plant them on their land
and they should never again be uprooted of the land that I have given them, says the Lord. Of course,
we know 1948 was the consolidation of the nation of Israel. And Amos 9, 14 lets us know that God
planted them there. It wasn't just their idea to kind of all come together because Jewish people
were dispersed all over in different nations. They didn't really have their own place. So for
instance, maybe you'd have Russian Jews or you'd have Yugoslavian Jews or you'd have American Jews
and you have, but they actually had a place that they could call home. But the Bible says, I'll
plant them in their land. They'll never be uprooted out of the land. So if you're trying to uproot
Israel out of their land, according to Amos 9, 14 and 15, you're fighting the Lord on this
because God's doing just the opposite. Another scripture I think is important, Chris says,
Jeremiah 30, but it just basically said the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and he says,
thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, write any book, all the words I spoke to you, for behold,
days are coming, declares the Lord, while I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. And
Judas says, the Lord, I will bring them back to the land I gave their fathers. They shall take
possession of it. And so here are all these different words and thoughts, but it's biblical
prophecy being fulfilled that all of God's people will come home to Israel. So I believe part of it
is supporting Israel and her people. I think it's an opportunity to take part in God rebuilding the
things that he's promised. And then of course we have things like the early church emerged in the
region of Israel, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, the upper room was in Israel, the book of Acts.
We understand that all this stuff. And then ultimately revelation lets us know that there's
going to be a heavenly Jerusalem. There's that name of that city. The holy city is the image of all
of new creation, all of the aspiration of its people where God will wipe away every tear.
There'll be no more death, mourning, crying out in pain, former world has passed away.
So heavenly Jerusalem obviously is connected to earthly Jerusalem. So we have to understand
there are things beyond our comprehension that as revelation unfolds, we're going to see the
significance of that original covenant given to Abraham as it relates to that tiny sliver of land
and the people. That is so good. So good. I think that's really going to help people
really grasp why and what the word of God says. I love that you took us through some scripture
so people are really getting a grasp for the word. We've talked about how our affections for Israel
plays in God's prophetic storyline, but how does that storyline continue on for us today?
Well, I think in Romans 11, Apostle Paul makes two amazing statements. He speaks of Israel and he
says, their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for Gentiles. How much more their
fullness. This is in Romans 11 verse 12. And it goes on to say, for if they're being cast away
is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be but life from death? So Paul is
actually, I mean, this is deep. He's looking at Israel stumbling and casting away, but yet,
and he's relating it to the riches of the Gentiles, but he's also looking to Israel's future
fullness and he foresees an even greater release for the world in quote unquote Romans 11, 15,
life from death. So when life comes after someone dies, it's called revival. Could it also be that
what God wants to do with natural Israel also connects to a revival for the church? You and I,
I mean, we love revival. John Wesley says it like this, it was a revivalist. He says, so many
prophecies refer to this grand event. He's referring to this passage we just read out of Romans, that
is surprising. Any Christian can doubt it. John Wesley said, he says, when it's accomplished,
it will be so strong a demonstration, both of the old and new Testament revelation that would
doubtless convince many it will release overflowing life to the world, which was dead. This is John
Wesley commenting on this. He's doing a commentary on these verses, on these very verses. And he's
saying that when this is accomplished, it's going to release overflowing life to the world, which
was dead. So I believe maybe one of the strongest reasons why Israel should be important to us is
there's a connection between what happens in that nation and revival spilling out to the church
abroad. Well said. I love that you tied it to a revival narrative. I think that's so cool. And
you really kind of see how that connects to today. You know, in terms of salvation, does Israel have
an automatic end? I think a lot of people wonder that. You know what? This is what we're going to
keep it 100 and just be totally honest. No, Israel does not have an automatic end. You got to come
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think part of it is there are two errors, as I
would see it on both sides. And one of it is what's called dual covenant theology. And dual
covenant theology is this unique holding that the new covenant only applies to non-Jews or Gentiles,
while the Jews, the Mosaic covenant remains valid for them. So in other words, you just fulfill the
law, do the best you can, and you'll get into heaven. And all you Gentiles and non-Jews,
you got to come through the blood. Dual covenant theology is not accurate. There's this one covenant,
there's one mediator between God and man. And the Bible actually challenges us that we should
actually live our lives in such a way that would provoke, the Bible says, Israel or the Jews to
jealousy. So why would our lifestyles as followers of Christ need to provoke Israel to jealousy
so that their eyes would be open and see the Bible talks about one of the minor prophets,
the one whom they have pierced. Why would he have to do that if Israel has an automatic end?
And then it would really kind of make Jesus' death in vain in many of his words. So dual covenant
theology is wrong in saying that Israel has an automatic end. No, we need to pray for Israel that
their eyes are open and to see that the Messiah has come. The one that their prophets have said
about is come Jesus. They have to look upon Jesus, the author and perfected of their faith. But then
there may be another error and this is kind of off the question, but it's replacement theology.
And that's that the Gentile church has totally fulfilled all of God's intention. So the Israel
holds no significance. And I think a lot of people fall into that. It's like, hey, I just read the
Bible and everything just applies to me as a believer. None of it applies to Israel. And that
means the church has replaced Israel completely. So I say those are two extremes. Like I'm not
in the replacement theology and I don't think it's biblical. I'm not in dual covenant. And I think
that someplace in between is this thing of God has prophetic words and a covenant with Israel.
But at the end of the day, that covenant is about them waking up and God actually,
and we can see over and over again, he purposely brought the gospel to the Gentiles.
And so although originally Israel was God's chosen people, now we begin to realize it's his church.
And so I think that that is so important in understanding that. And it's important because
a pastor of one of the largest churches in our nation with considerable influence among the
younger generation recently published a book explaining that the Old Testament is completely
irrelevant and has been replaced with brand new teachings, morals, and ethics of Jesus.
It's kind of almost that replacement theology. First of all, he needs to understand Scripture
is a part of the Bible. And in fact, the Old Testament is nearly 80% of the Christian Bible.
So to ignore it and to not know it is to be ignorant of most of Scriptures as it relates.
And so that is so important to understand that. And, you know, Paul said, let me throw this out.
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceded. Israel
has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in or been saved. So
all of Israel will be saved, true Israelites, rather, you know, ethnic or spiritual, of course.
And the deliverer will come from Zion. He will turn godlessness away from Israel. And this is
my covenant with them when I take away their sins, Romans 11, 25 through 27. So we can see
that this doesn't mean all of Israel will be saved. It doesn't mean the entire nation and all
Israelites of all time, but those who come to believe in Jesus Christ. And we're going to see
a mass revival amongst people of Israel finally recognize that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
And there's a whole movement of Messianic Jews and their nation will finally accept him as the
prophesied one. I love that. It's very well said because that's kind of a complex question. And I
think that's hard for people to get their brain around. So I think I just love you kind of gave
that bite-sized piece for people to kind of understand on a very digestible level.
So with everything that's been said, you know, with everything that's happening with Israel
and Hamas right now, you know, and the future of Israel, the question really is where does that
leave us today? Well, there's one kind of theologian he wrote. I love this. He said,
the Jewish people are going to have to be believers in Jesus as their Messiah in order to be rescued by
him at the second coming. This is exactly what will happen. And he cites Ezekiel 20, 33 through 38,
which says, as I live says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand with an outstretched arm and
with fury poured out, I will rule over you. I will bring you out from the peoples. I will gather you
out of the countries where you're scattered with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with fear.
I will bring you into the wilderness of peoples and there I will plead my case to you face to face
just as I pled my case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt. So while I plead
my case with you, says the Lord. So God is going to bring about this inward persuasion, convincing,
sending forth a glorious witness. I believe that scales would fall from eyes in very same way. The
Saul of Tarsus was this particular Pharisee that was killing Christians and rounding them up. But
it says scales fell from his eyes. I think Saul of Tarsus, who was a Roman citizen, but Jewish,
just as his eyes were open, I believe the Bible points again and again that that's going to happen
on a mass scale. So go on now in verse 37 of Ezekiel 20. He says, I will make you pass under
the rod. I will bring you into the rod of my covenant. I will purge rebels from you and those
who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the country where they dwell that they may not
enter the land of Israel. Now here's the verse. Then you will know that I am the Lord. So although
we're throwing a lot of scripture at you and that text is thick, it's dense. It's basically saying
that God was going to bring them together as a nation, which he did. He's going to purge them.
They're going to pass on the rod. They're going to be trials and tribulations. I believe it's
probably the most reward piece of territory on planet earth. But he says, I will bring you out.
And he says, then you will know that I am the Lord. So this is just the future right here. And so I
say, Christians, watch Israel closely, follow the messianic movement. That means messianic Christians
or completed Jews, some would call it, because we're going to see this mighty move of God. It's
going to signal the end times and it's going to be this incredible, I believe, firework of God's
prophetic fulfillment. And at the end of the day, all who believe in Jesus for salvation are beloved
of the Lord. And they're going to reap the fruit of God's promises to Israel. And we can have
confidence in God because he's always been faithful to his people. You know, I hope this has been
helpful. Literally, they're theologians that spent their life to this kind of stuff. But we just want
to set up some things for you to understand just how Israel is important. It's important. I'd say,
if you don't have anything else, what can I just really submit to you? There's something you can
immediately implement. Just pray for Israel. Pray for Palestinian believers. Pray for that strip of
land. I think to say that you understand Israel's significance in God's purposes doesn't mean by any
means that you have to become an enemy of a country that has other believers in. Really, the Hamas is
a unique, terroristic group. And their intentions, really, I think, could be traced back to Haman.
And Haman wanted to wipe out the Jews in Esther's day. But if you notice what Esther did, and we all
love Esther, but you understand she stood up and she prayed that that obviously would be exposed
and that wouldn't happen. And her cousin, Uncle Mordecai, said, hey, you were raised up for such
a time as this. And so we want to believe for revival to happen in that part of the world.
So just continually lift it up in prayer. Great job, baby. That was not an easy topic. And I love
that you were able just to break that down for everyone. For the people in our tribe, our hope
in prayer is that you really gain some knowledge, some wisdom, some understanding of what currently
is a social climate, but what's also the foundation biblically. It's important as a follower of Christ.
Remember, if you live in the Bay Area, join us October 20th. We're having our
second to last gathering for our monthly Momentum Night. It's Quay Community Church, 7 p.m. It is a
night of healing, night of breakthrough. Get in the room. God is going to encounter you.
Thanks so much for tuning into the Keep It 100 podcast. Make sure to rate, review and refer us
to your friends and be sure to click that subscribe button so that you're alerted as soon as new
episodes drop. Help us get the word out. Share this link on your social media platforms and check us
out at SeanandChristaSmith.com. You can also find us on Facebook at Sean and Christa Smith
Ministries. We would love to hear from you on how this podcast has impacted you. So be sure to show
us some love and remember, relief may change your circumstance, but a revelation will change you.