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[0:00] If you're a guest with us today, we find ourselves in the book of Zechariah. If you have a Bible with you, I encourage you to turn to Zechariah chapter 10. We will be there in a moment. Zechariah is, to give you some context of Zechariah and where we are in that book, let me share it this way.

[0:21] Zechariah is a prophet of God who the children of Israel, after being the northern kingdom, has been taken into captivity to Assyria. Babylon has come and wreaked havoc and killed, pillaged, and destroyed the walls and temple of Israel, leveling the city pretty much, and taking many off to exile into Babylon. God told the children of Israel, you're going to be there 70 years and I will have you return. Babylon subsequently gets conquered by Persia, and this Persian king Cyrus, he tells the people of Israel, a remnant of the people of Israel, you can return and go rebuild your temple. So a remnant of God's people returned to Jerusalem. They are in the process of rebuilding at a very inconvenient time.

[1:14] Zechariah is one among them that has returned to Jerusalem to help rebuild this temple, and that is the context in which we find ourselves in Zechariah. Zechariah opens the book and he says, hey, guys, what are we doing? You build these paneled houses, you've rebuilt your homes, but the temple of God, God's house is still sitting in ruins. We've been, let's rebuild the temple. So the people of Israel, people of Israel begin to rebuild the temple. Zechariah has a fitful night of sleep. One night he has eight visions. We looked at that as a church, and basically the eight visions are there is going to be this coming Messiah figure who will both judge and bless, judge nations and bless the people of God and be looking for that person. After the night of eight visions, then he awakens, and we're about, in terms of timeline, we're about two years into the construction of the temple. The walls of the temple are coming up. We have about another two years to go before the temple is complete, but in that moment of time, Zechariah has, he is told to coronate Joshua, the high priest, which we looked at that, and what was happening in that event is that this future coming Messiah person, Joshua, the high priest, but he's going to wear a crown. He's to coronate and put a crown on Joshua, and it's this living metaphor, if you will, of, hey, that Messiah figure that's going to come is both going to serve as a king and a priest, and so be looking for that person pointing to Christ. Then we see, we see Joshua, here's an oracle from God, and so today, in our context of today's message, we are in the midst, and we're in the middle of that oracle. Pastor Jay, next week, will finish that oracle in chapter 11, but in chapter 10, we're in the middle of this revelation of God that Zechariah is hearing from the Lord, and picking up, where does today's message fit in relation to last week? If you remember last week, we heard that chapter 9, half of the chapter tells, it's a tale of two kings. There's some of the chapter that probably likely references, Pastor Jay did a good job of preaching this, referencing Alexander the Great, and then, but there's going to be a superior king to Alexander the Great, and they will be this messianic figure, and they are to look for this king, and so halfway through chapter 9, bleeding into today's message is all about this second king, this superior king that Israel is to be looking for.

[4:08] Okay, that's the groundwork, contextually, of where we are. Let me suspend that and share with you an illustration. The Battle of Waterloo happened in 1815, where the Duke of Wellington, on behalf of the British forces, was going to go down at Waterloo, just outside of Brussels, Belgium today, is where Waterloo is at, is going to fight Napoleon, and Napoleon in this battle is defeated by this Duke of Wellington, but it was a touch-and-go battle. It was, and so the Duke of Wellington sends by ship a, to signal to England, the Duke of Wellington has defeated Napoleon. That was the message that they were to send, and they sent the message by semaphore, which is this way of waving flags to communicate an alphabet and spell out a message that you could see long distance. Again, this is in the 18th, early 1800s.

[5:21] On top of Westminster Chapel, they, they, a few miles outside of London, they had the semaphore communicated that far, and now the semaphore is communicating this message that the Duke of Wellington had won, and he was communicating, and then a thick fog blew in, and no longer could you see, and all that London heard in the semaphore that was communicated is this, Wellington defeated thick fog.

[6:02] It was hours later that the fog burned off, and they finally heard the completed message. Wellington defeated the enemy.

[6:14] I imagine today, you may be in a condition where you know ultimate reality. Napoleon's been defeated, in likening it to the illustration.

[6:30] Napoleon's been defeated. That's the reality, but you feel for the few hours that you just got, enemy is defeated, or not enemy is defeated.

[6:41] Wellington defeated. All you know is you feel like you're losing. You've lost the battle. And so you may be in a season of life right now where you feel like, I know ultimate reality, but my present circumstances doesn't match that reality.

[7:01] I know the promises of God, but my present circumstance sure doesn't feel like those promises of God are my present reality. If I were to liken that, I feel like this is what Zechariah chapter 10, the people of Israel must be feeling.

[7:20] You're going to hear this overwhelming blessing and promises of God to Israel in the message today, but their present circumstance, take note. They're still ruled by a governor that's been appointed by a foreign king.

[7:35] Their nation is not their own. Their land is not their own. They're just a vassal state of a bigger thing. The enemies surround them. There's no wall around Jerusalem at this point.

[7:45] You're very vulnerable. Enemies are around. Their present circumstances don't sound anything like what we're about to read today. But the promises are true. That is reality, but their circumstances don't match that.

[8:00] So let's look at this tale of two kings, this second king, this king that is greater. Then I will conclude by making two observations and two application points, and we will finish.

[8:14] If you want a little roadmap in case you're like, where is he at in this message? Now you know. I want us to look in verse 1.

[8:28] Remember, this great king of chapter 9 is continuing his blessings to Israel. Ask, and he begins, he opens with this request.

[8:39] And please note this. This is the only command. This is the only request that the Lord is asking of Israel. He says, ask, in our text today, ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain from the Lord who makes storm clouds.

[8:54] He will give them showers of rain to everyone, to every vegetation in the field. So this overwhelming blessing. And he says, hey, but I am going to bless you, but ask for rain.

[9:07] Now isn't it interesting that we're going to see these promises of God, and yet he's asking his people to participate in what he is doing. Ask me for rain.

[9:19] And I will pour out this blessing. We're going to hop down to chapter 2. Here's, if you're, and let me share a big principle point here. I would say this.

[9:29] We're about to see a bunch of promises of God. And I want to make the point of just saying God's promises to deliver his people from his enemies. And he wants to invite us in that.

[9:41] So here we go. Verse 2. For household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies. They tell false dreams and give empty consolation.

[9:53] Therefore, the people wander like sheep. They are afflicted for a lack of a shepherd. My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders. False gods and false prophets.

[10:05] I'm going to pause there and not finish verse 3 on purpose. I'm going to pause there. False gods and false prophets were a perpetual enemy of God's people. And these are one of the enemies of God.

[10:19] So Zechariah warns against this enemy of these false gods to the people of Israel that are gathered there in Jerusalem. And when the Lord did not answer their prayers for rain, the Jews easily could fall prey to false prophets.

[10:35] They're easily, what if the Lord doesn't answer and send rains? Then they could be easily tempted to go and follow different figurines or figure false prophets, false gods.

[10:46] It was common, and please know there's another reason I have this. This is just an illustration. It was common in that day to have a little icon of some kind that you would store in your house that would be resembling a false god.

[11:02] And Israel participated in this. A lot of nations around them, they would have a little Asherah, a little Baal, a little whatever is their god. And they would have that in their household.

[11:13] Because that's why he says in verse 2, For the household gods utter nonsense. The diviners see lies. They tell false dreams. But what's sobering about this text is it's obvious to see not just do the enemies of Israel participate in this, so too does Jerusalem, and they're being led by their own leaders.

[11:36] Look with me in the bottom of verse 2. Therefore the people wander like sheep, and they are afflicted for a lack of a shepherd. My anger is hot against the shepherd.

[11:48] I will punish the leaders. Not only is Israel participating in this, but they are being led by their shepherds. It's a good warning to me, to elders of a church, to be careful not to lead people into idolatry.

[12:05] Now, idolatry may look different for us today. We may not have icons in our home, little figurines in our home that we pay homage to in some respect. But I do think we're still culpable of idolatry.

[12:21] A person may pray to God for a spouse, for a job, for financial stability, for healing. And when God's answer is delayed or different than we expect, instead of continuing to trust in the Lord, we turn to other means that promise control.

[12:41] We obsess over self-help gurus, personality tests, worse yet, manifestation techniques, podcasts, social media, prosperity teachers, or even horoscopes and psychics.

[12:55] Yes, I have known professing believers to consult satanic means of hearing from the Lord. The answer is not merely the tool or the means itself, but it is the heart's desire to secure by manipulation what God has not yet given by his providence.

[13:15] Our hearts are idol factories. We do not bow down to carving idols, perhaps, but we treat God like a divine vending machine.

[13:26] We pray, we read scripture, we attend church, not because we delight in the Lord himself, but because we expect certain results and we want certain outcomes. And when God does not give in to what we want, we look elsewhere to money, to politics, to relationships, to influence, to human wisdom, to accomplish what we think should be done.

[13:48] The idol is not the object we pursue, per se. It is the belief that we know better than the Lord. We know better than God. We know what we need best and what we must do to take control in order to get it.

[14:03] Our hearts are idol factories. Simply put, there's two problems. Idolatry involves a reversal of our proper position before the Lord.

[14:14] He is God. I am not. But when I am convinced that I am somehow the Lord and he can do whatever I ask, that's where idolatry happens. When we think that I am the potter and the Lord is the clay, I get to mold him into what I think he should be.

[14:33] Idolatry rejects, secondly, idolatry rejects God's genuine revelation and looks to other avenues that are neither reliable guides for us nor will ultimately satisfy.

[14:48] And the Lord's response is sure. My anger is hot against the shepherds who participate in this and lead their people into it.

[15:00] May we all be very careful. That's probably the most sobering part of the passage. It is this warning to Israel, do not participate in idolatry.

[15:12] However, now we get into this promised deliverance. And part B of chapter 3 through 5 kind of now turned the corner. Now if we could turn to chapter 10 verse 3, we read this, For the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah will make them, I'm sorry, For the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.

[15:43] From him shall come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler, all of them together. They shall be like mighty men in battle, trampling the foe in the mud of the streets.

[15:57] They shall fight because the Lord is with them, and they shall put to shame the riders on horses. So notice in this passage, God promises to visit his flock, his people, to make Judah his majestic horse, this descendant that will come from, this offspring that will come from Judah, like this majestic horse.

[16:20] He'll be this cornerstone, this tent peg, this battle bow. He will appoint every ruler, describing the Messiah as this strong leader, this who has victorious reign, and is in a position of paramount importance.

[16:35] He will one day play Judah, or Israel's grand future. He will empower his people to conquer other mighty men. That begins to set the table of, oh, now can you imagine?

[16:54] You're Israel, you're in Jerusalem, you're in Zechariah's day, how bleak your circumstances look, and yet you hear this, and you think, oh Lord, I want that.

[17:05] I look forward to that day. This would be invigorating to those people. Reading on, now God promises to restore, he promises to regather, and he promises to strengthen his people.

[17:18] Look with me in verses 6 through 12. Actually, we're just going to pause on verse 6 for a bit. This verse emphasizes that he will strengthen and deliver, and regather his people.

[17:29] So he says, I will strengthen the house of Judah. I will save the house of Joseph. I want to pause there for a moment. I find it very interesting that these are two groups of people, Judah and Joseph, that he chooses to name.

[17:43] This is very unusual for Joseph's name to be mentioned in this kind of way. Joseph is not, in fact, a tribe of Israel. So why is he choosing Judah and Joseph? I'm going to speculate here a little bit, but we remember after Solomon, the tribes of the 12 tribes of Israel divided their kingdoms.

[18:01] Two tribes went south. That is known as Judah. Those two tribes are Benjamin and Judah. The rest of the 10 tribes went north, and those were called Israel. So you had Israel in the north, 10 tribes, Judah in the south, two tribes, and that was a way of identifying all of Israel was to say Judah and Israel.

[18:20] But here it's Judah and Joseph. And Joseph isn't one of the 10 tribes. What is happening here? Joseph, though, if you remember, his two sons, he fathered two sons, and they were allowed to be named among the 12 tribes of Israel.

[18:39] Their names were Manasseh and Ephraim. And so Joseph is mentioned here. So two of Joseph's sons and descendants were houses of tribes that are in the north.

[18:50] So we have Judah and Joseph naming Manasseh and Ephraim. So what I'm saying or suggesting is this is another way of just saying the southern kingdom and the northern kingdom. I will strengthen the house of Judah and I will save the house of Joseph.

[19:04] I will bring them back because I have compassion on them. Now let's pause for a second. Where are they? Many of them are still in exile.

[19:17] And he says, I will bring them back and they shall be as though I had not rejected them for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them. Notice what the Lord is saying.

[19:29] Israel one day will be strong. He will strengthen them. Right now they're very weak. Number two, Israel will be delivered from their enemies. That hasn't happened yet.

[19:41] Israel will one day be the object of God's compassion. I will have compassion on them. Israel will be gathered back into their land. I will bring them back.

[19:54] Israel is assured of God's hearing their prayers and I will answer them. Verse six says, I don't know about you, but if I'm Israel in Jerusalem in that day, I would be thinking, oh, I'm standing a little taller now.

[20:10] Verse seven, then Ephraim, remember that's one of the two descendants of Joseph, then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.

[20:23] Their children shall see it and be glad. Their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord. Israel and Ephraim, what's this verse communicating? We'll be like mighty warriors who are victorious.

[20:33] God's divine favor will not be fleeting. Number three, successive generations will call God's wondrous, recall God's wondrous acts and worship him.

[20:50] Their children shall see it and be glad. There's going to be successive generations of the children of Israel who will see God's wondrous works and be glad.

[21:00] It will rejoice them in their hearts. And then obviously the last one is the prevailing emotion around this time period is joy. Israel will be joyful.

[21:11] Verse eight and nine, let's continue these promises. Notice God is unilaterally doing this on Israel's behalf. It's not conditional. I will whistle for them and gather them in for I have redeemed them and they shall be as many as they were before.

[21:30] Though I scatter them among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember me and with their children they shall live and return.

[21:41] Notice here, he says, I will whistle for them. It's like a shepherd back in that day would have a reed whistle or some kind of signal that they would call their sheep with and that whistle or that call the sheep would know and be responsive to the shepherd.

[22:04] And so that's the language that is being used here. But God is saying, I will give you that signal, O Israel, and you will regather and you will regather in strength because it says, they shall be as many as they were before.

[22:20] Can you imagine what that would have been like for Zechariah, the population in Jerusalem that day to hear this? They have been gutted. Israel has been gutted. The northern ten tribes were taken by Assyria.

[22:32] Southern two tribes, Babylon, Persia's involved. A little remnant comes back and he says, hey, the population will be as much as what it was before all of this happened.

[22:45] You're going to burgeon in population. I want to emphasize, though, also there is this, though through verses 6 through 12, there is a regathering theme that is here.

[23:00] Israel regathered from a worldwide dispersion. Now some theologians would say this, that they think this signaling, this whistle that the Lord had had, occurred after World War II on May 14, 1948, when Israel, after the Jews were severely persecuted through the Holocaust, the world established the nation of Israel and allowed a people to return.

[23:30] Two years later, later, after Israel was founded as a nation, in 1950, Israel adopted a policy called Aliyah, which gave them freedom and the right of dispersed Jews around the world to return to their home country.

[23:47] Since 1950, I'm sorry, 3.5 million Jews have taken the Aliyah policy and have returned and become Israeli citizens.

[23:59] with now, the population of Israel is around 7 million. I find it interesting that 150 years prior to that, though, so now, 150 years before 1950, we're about in early 1800s, Charles Simeon was this British pastor, this professor, a theologian.

[24:22] He trained many of the British's, England's pastors on how to preach and teach expositionally. He was a wonderful man.

[24:33] He said this about Zechariah chapter 10. If the Jews' regathering to the land is figurative, how could God say anything literal, more literal, or plainer language than he uses here?

[24:47] So he saw this as this literal returning of the nation of Israel to the promised land. And if you were to say to me, though, Scott, is this, is this the thing that happened in 1950 and the subsequent Aliyah policy that people have returned, is that the complete fulfillment of what has been promised here in Zechariah 10?

[25:12] I would say no. Their future is even brighter. You could look with me in verse 8. I will redeem them. Are the Jews living in Israel redeemed?

[25:23] No. But they shall be, and they shall be as more abundant as before. They're going to burgeon in their population.

[25:36] And it says, though I scattered them, verse 9, among the nations, yet as far countries, they shall remember me. Do the Israelites remember the Lord? Are they redeemed? Have they believed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sin?

[25:49] No. Today. In Zechariah's day, they had a decimated population, and they'd returned to rebuild the temple.

[26:03] They couldn't even imagine what this may look like. Also, though, there's even better promises for Israel. The text continues. Look with me in verse 10. I will bring them home from the land of Egypt.

[26:15] I will gather them from Assyria and bring them into the land of Gilead and to Lebanon till there is no room for them. Look at this. I will bring them home from these foreign countries, Egypt and Assyria, it tells us.

[26:29] Now, what are these nations? These are typical nations that have been, in recent history, in Zechariah's mind, 200 years prior to the day Zechariah is writing this, Israel has been tormented by Assyria and Egypt.

[26:44] They have not been friendly. These are unfriendly nations to the nation of Israel. So approximately, yeah, 200 years prior, these two nations have killed Israel, sacked, pillaged, punished.

[26:57] The Lord is using these nations to judge Israel's disobedience. No longer can these former enemies, though, here's the promise of verse 10 and verse 11, no longer can these former enemies even stand in the way of God's people receiving their inheritance.

[27:14] And notice what, one of the things that it says in verse 11, and they shall pass through the troubles of the sea and strike down the waves of the sea and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up and the pride of Assyria shall be laid low and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.

[27:29] The scepter of Egypt, this rod that kings held that gave them or that signified their ultimate authority. Egypt will no longer have it. Assyria shall be laid low.

[27:42] Nothing, the point of it is this, nothing will stand in the way of Israel being to regather in her land. That's the point.

[27:54] And you say, but how? I don't know, but we're given a clue because it says in the bottom of, or midway through verse 11, and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.

[28:16] There's another time in Israel's history when the Nile dried up. And if you remember, Pharaoh, after the 10th plague, the angel of death has swept over Egypt.

[28:29] Israel is preserved because they took God at his word and put blood on the doorpost and the lentil of their household. The death angel passed over Israel, but all the firstborn of Egypt is killed.

[28:41] Pharaoh is enraged. He takes up his army to pursue Israel. Israel is fleeing. There's a problem. There is the Red Sea. And that Red Sea, the Lord had parted and they passed over on dry ground.

[28:58] So what is the image that the Lord is painting here? And he is saying to Israel, listen, I will preserve you miraculously and I will save you.

[29:09] There is no enemy, there is no obstacle that will stand in your way from you being regathered unto me. What a beautiful, and the promises keep going.

[29:21] I will make them strong, verse 12, in the Lord and they shall walk in my name, declares the Lord. They will walk in his name. Israel will one day walk with him.

[29:33] And you say, Scott, when will this happen? I have the time frame around this. When will the complete fulfillment happen?

[29:46] Could the regathering and Israel being established in 1948, could that have been a first signaling? Sure. But it's not a complete fulfillment of this. So this will happen around the second return of Christ.

[29:59] I have it in the millennial reign, also continuing when God will bless his people. He returns and then he blesses his people and Israel will be immensely blessed and I have this passage and that time frame in my mind correlating.

[30:13] That's when the Lord will fulfill this completely. That being said, okay, then you say, okay, Scott, that's nice for them. Bring it home.

[30:25] Okay. Man, you guys are pushy this morning. So, observation number one. Sometimes God scatters his people in weakness so they may look to him for salvation alone.

[30:41] In verse 9 it reads, Though I scatter them among the nations, yet from the far countries they shall remember me and with their children they will live and return.

[30:53] Perhaps today you feel like you've been scattered. You, whether your own sin and rebellion has taken you away from the Lord or just these are meager times.

[31:05] You're in a season of despair. Perhaps the Lord even orchestrated that so that you may return to him and you may know that only he alone can save.

[31:17] Only you, he alone can be your deliverer. And today you are even living in sin. I encourage you if you're a believer in Christ to please repent. Please repent of your sin.

[31:28] And if you do not know the Lord and you are far from him and you say, I want to know the Lord, would you please believe? Come talk to me afterward, but all I'm going to say to you afterward is this.

[31:38] Would you please believe? In Jesus Christ's sinless life, his death for sin, his resurrection from the grave to forgive sin on your behalf and mine.

[31:50] Trust in him and then begin a relationship with the Lord. Come talk to me. Because it says, yet in far countries they remembered me.

[32:01] So I would say return. Return to the Lord. Return to the Lord. Paul the apostle echoed something like this in 2 Corinthians.

[32:13] This is probably not on the screen, but it reads in verse 8. Listen to Paul. for we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.

[32:25] For we were utterly burdened beyond the strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received a sentence of death, but in order that we were able to, but that was made to us to rely or trust not on ourselves but God who raises from the dead.

[32:49] So perhaps these circumstances in your life are made so you would stop trusting in yourself and rely on God. The apostle Paul experienced that. Perhaps that is fitting for you today.

[33:01] Second observation is this. God's promises should motivate us to pray for their fulfillment. Notice, this passage is littered with one promise after another for the people of Israel.

[33:13] One promise after another and so these promises ought to motivate us to pray for their fulfillment. Remember, in verse 1 it says, pray for rain. Well, and then all of these beautiful, bountiful promises follow.

[33:28] Why pray if you know your future is so bright? If these promises will be so fulfilled? I have a suggestion and now we'll get into the application.

[33:41] Prayer is a language of dependence. Prayer is a language of dependence. Prayer acknowledges our neediness. Apart from the Lord, we can do nothing.

[33:54] Prayer, so pray because we cannot accomplish God's purposes. So pray because apart from God we cannot overcome sin. So pray because apart from God we cannot persevere in faith.

[34:07] So pray because apart from God we cannot sustain even our own life. So pray because apart from God we cannot accomplish any good thing. I wonder sometimes and I've noticed in my own life when I have felt less courageous to share my faith.

[34:30] There are seasons when I felt emboldened and then there are seasons when I feel I shrink back from courage. and then I notice in my own life my prayer life for those who don't know the Lord around me and when I come upon the person when I have been absent in prayer I often feel less courageous but when I have been praying Lord would you save my neighbor?

[34:53] Lord would you save this family member? Lord would you save these people? Lord and then I encounter them oh I'm much more courageous I'm much more mindful the Lord may be orchestrating events and I get to participate with them now.

[35:08] So but prayer is a language of dependence. Secondly it aligns our hearts to God's purposes. I think we have one no before we get to the slide prayer aligns our hearts.

[35:28] Prayer aligns our hearts. It's interesting to me this. In Revelation we read that around the throne of the Lord is every tribe nation and tongue represented and they are worshiping him and yet we read in Matthew we read pray the harvest is bountiful but the laborers are few and then it says pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers.

[35:58] all the nations will know him there's the promise we know that to be true that's the reality Napoleon's been defeated that's the reality but presently that's not true and so we're we're to pray even though we know a reality that will come why pray?

[36:23] it's a language of dependence and it aligns my heart let's go to the last image when I was in my first trip to China was in 1996 if you want to think about Vietnam jungle-ish thing with hillsides of wheat rice paddies that's the context and where I was at in China mission organizations and by the way no comments on not aging well I was there because a mission organization had said Scott we want to know where three minority groups of people are the ye people the kajah people and the meow people and these are their traditional dresses that those people and so if you go to my office and you see these little figurines I don't play with dolls they're a reminder I was sent because a mission organization had said please we want to know where these minority people groups are at because they don't have the gospel would you be a part of a team that goes in and so we had a medical person on the team because we were always sick and then second we had someone who was a native of Taiwan who could speak

[37:45] Mandarin fluently and then myself who my job was to plot on a map where these villages were and it had elevation things and so so we would backpack for three months through China in this very rural no roads no major cities are here and we were trying to find where all these people were at and to identify is this a meow village is this a ye kajah what language or dialect do they speak and what's the population and we were to return that to the mission organization who is then going to come up with a strategy to find how to reach them I am saved but a few years at this point I'm probably on this trip because I thought it was a grand adventure my motives were mixed to be honest at this point I'm probably a junior in college I had one more year to go and I remember getting on the plane after that trip and every night

[38:46] I would look at my map and the numbers were growing this village 500 people this village 300 people this village so many people and every night I would tally I had a spreadsheet and I would think okay we met 1500 people today who have no hope of the gospel every night the number just kept growing no hope of the gospel and I began to pray Lord would you save these folks Lord I don't know what it's going to take if we can even share the gospel while we're here please make a way I get back on the plane to head home long flight and I am just becoming increasingly broken because up until that point really if I was honest with myself I would say this my heart's desire as a young man was just to make lots of money I wanted to return to the Harvard of the Palouse and just finish my year and and and graduate get my degree and go make lots of money and on that trip that's when the Lord captured my heart

[40:01] I returned I had been praying I want you to correlate something I had been praying for these people and now my heart was tethered my heart was now more aligned with God's heart for these people than ever before so when you pray your heart gets alignment with God's purposes I know what the Lord's going to do I know those people are going to be around the throne I know one day they will be worshiping him I know but I want to be a part of those laborers who are participating in the harvest too and so I'm going to be praying and may I be one as well let me call Father you know all things Lord I love not just for Israel but for your people you have a grand future for those who are in Christ who know you whose sins are forgiven

[41:08] Lord I pray that even though we have promises of you that you have promised to your people that we would enjoy participating that we would enjoy participating with you that our hearts would be aligned and we would enjoy participating with you in prayer for those promises to come true Lord I thank you that your word is full of promises you will never leave us nor forsake us that death has lost its sting to be with you is far better to be with you to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord these are all promises we love you Lord the future is grand thank you for your forgiveness I pray that we would enjoy talking to you in prayer and Lord may you align our hearts in keeping with your purposes and unbuckle us from this present world the desires for this present world may your may our affections for you eclipse all other affections we love you

[42:28]  Lord thank you for this day amen may may may