Span-08 Apostolic & Prophetic Foundations 5 of 8 — Art Katz

For the so great God that you are, for the so great salvation you have given, for the so great mysteries given to us, revealed to us, not for our contemplation only, for our fulfillment, to conclude the age, to bring your coming and your kingdom, what privilege, what call, what enablement, come my God this morning, pour out your soul, you have prepared us in these days, to hear you, to receive your word,.

To take it to our hearts, to do it,.

Let it be historic my God, deep, deep, deep, into the foundations of the church, unto eternal consequence and glory,.

You are speaking this day, from the throne of heaven,.

Through earthly lips, in Jesus name we pray, amen, you may be seated, so let me begin with a question, is Paul a systematic theologian, yes or no, how many would say yes, how many would say no, how many would not say, you rather keep it to yourself, it's something private and personal, don't get nosy Katz, you want my opinion, brilliant as Paul was, he was not systematic, that's why he has given employment, to generations of theologians thereafter, it's for us to make sense of him,.

He writes like a fool, like a man beside himself,. It's for us to sift, and to bring some order and understanding,.

And I can't think of a more precious employment, you wrestle with Paul, it will transform your life, so let me ask another question, though he is not systematic, of all the letters that he has written, which one would be the most comprehensive, the most carefully deliberated statement, of his whole apostolic mindset, which book,.

You are afraid to say, Romans, Ephesians, good, two good, anyone else, it's Romans, Hebrews is also good, superb,.

Scholars consider it questionable, who was the author of Ephesians, Romans is unquestionably Paul,.

Because there he proposes all the logic of God,.

Sin, man, redemption, sixteen chapters. I think,.

Paul's Apostolic Mindset and the Mystery of Israel

Now, what is the heart of that book, chapters 9 to 11, the mystery of Israel, and the church,. Superb, it's not something to be found at the back of the book, it's not for Paul an afterthought, a little asterisk with some concluding thoughts, it's his central thought, the issue of Israel for Paul is central to his whole apostolic mindset, not because he's a Jew, but because he's an apostle,.

That's a very important point, you mustn't think that Paul is putting forward a perspective about Israel because it's a subject necessarily dear to himself, unquestionably it is dear,. He begins chapter 9 by crying, I wish myself a curse for my brethren's sake, that they might know Christ, he's not indifferent to the condition of his kinsmen,.

But if God had chosen pygmies, as being the elect nation, that would have been the subject of Romans 9 to 11, God has elected and chosen Israel, not because it's greatest, but because it's least, and Paul calls his whole exposition a mystery,.

Do you like that word? Do you love that word? We're not talking about detective stories, Paul said I would not have you to be ignorant of this mystery, how does Paul use the word? A mystery is something that has till now been concealed, something of an ultimately precious kind, kept by God, for a moment in his own choosing, when it shall be revealed,.

By his Spirit, to those who can receive it, that will be on your examination, what is a mystery? As Paul understands the word, and as you should understand it,.

But you need to love the mysteries of God,.

And you don't have it yet, where does Paul say, I would not have you to be ignorant of this mystery, look at Romans. Of course,.

Chapter 11, the concluding chapter of 9 to 11,. And then he says, lest you become wise in your own conceit,.

The loss of this mystery brings unhappy consequences,.

Paul is pleading with the church in Rome, who have asked Paul a practical question, is God finished with the Jews,.

Is Israel passe, who have stoned all the prophets that were sent unto it, and crucified the Son of Glory,.

And judgment is about to break upon them, are they now finished in the purposes of God, they've had their chance, and they've blown it, and now we assume their call, and we fulfill, as the Israel of God, the destiny that had been given them,.

No small question, two thousand years later, it's still being debated, and great segments of the church, have spurned Paul's explanation, in their own arrogance and conceit,.

With their own arrogance and conceit, to relegate to themselves, the Israel of God,.

And look upon Israel as finished, yes, individual Jews can be saved,. It's nice to have you in the church brother Katz, but Israel as a nation,.

No destiny, finito, it's over,.

That's called replacement theology,.

It not only does disservice to Israel, it is tragic in its consequence for the church, for the way in which the church perceives and beholds Israel, is the key to its own perception of itself, the church cannot even be understood independently of Israel,.

The church itself is a mystery,.

Born out of Israel's judgment, the branches that had been broken off, that you might be grafted in, to their root, you are an interim, a continuation, of a most holy faith, once and for all given the saints, forfeited by Israel as a nation, with the rejection of its Messiah, but continued by a remnant, to whom you have been joined,.

The Church's Mandate Toward Israel

You know why I'm pausing with every word?

I am so conscious this morning, God is speaking to the church of Latin America, through these tapes,.

A word that must come, decisive for all its future, for the church that does not recognize the mystery, and consciously and willfully embraces it,.

And recognizes its mandate for Israel,.

Forfeits its identity as the church, it can continue to function, have its services and its programs, but it has forfeited being an apostolic entity, employed by God, for the fulfillment of mystery, that concludes the age, as I hope to show you this morning, the mystery of Israel embraced, is the making of the church, because it is an ultimate requirement, requiring an ultimate fulfillment, that compels the church to become the church,.

As an apostolic entity, and to fulfill the mystery, on the ground of resurrection, not as a doctrine to which it gives approval,.

But the source of its life and being,.

Its energy, its power and its authority, or Israel will remain dead in its grave, I am already speaking mysteries, you are already confused, but do not panic, this is complicated,.

Unspeakably rich, and we will explore this, Paul said. I would not have you to be ignorant of this mystery, 1125 I think it is, lest you become wise in your own conceit, listen to this, that is not just well, you have missed something that might have enriched you, rather that to miss this is to miss all, to miss this condemns you to a certain conceit, a certain ecclesiastical pride, a conceit, an arrogance, not only toward Israel, but toward everything, you become inflated, pompous, self-assured, proud, and that is no longer the Church, it has lost its essential character, the meekness of the Lamb himself,.

Nothing keeps us more humble than the magnitude of the commandment, exclusively given to us, toward Israel,.

It tempers us, it gives a right resonance to our corporate atmosphere,.

When the mystery is understood, received willfully, consciously, and we walk down,.

It does not require a great preponderance of Jews in your locality, although I feel sure that before the end of the age, you might be astonished at the numbers that pass through, in flight from global persecution, called the time of Jacob's trouble,.

When God will scatter them among the nations, the prophet Amos says, so that not only Israel will be scattered, but the nations themselves,.

Romans 11 and Israel's Future Restoration

Let us look at the text, Romans chapter 11, the conclusion to Paul's remarkable statement, of the mystery given him as an apostle, as a steward of the mysteries of God, so precious are they in God's sight,.

This is not merchandise, for us to traffic in it, this is taking off our shoes, and holding our breath,.

As we come to a sacred ground, unspeakably dear in God's sight, the conclusion of the ages, Paul says in this chapter, if the falling away of them has become the blessing to the Gentiles, what shall their return be, but life from the dead, that's extravagant language, but it's not excessive, how does Paul end this chapter?

Let's look at that first, let's go to the end before the beginning, because in verses 33 through 36, we have the most glorious paean, ecstatic utterance of praise, in the whole holy writ, there is nothing to which it can be compared, it even exceeds the psalmist, it's Paul's final ecstatic outburst, as he has reviewed and laid out this mystery, that something has broken so upon his deepest consciousness, of the wisdom of God, of the genius of God, in this remarkable scheme, of Israel's last days restoration, after a history of apostasy, through the church, that he breaks out, in language that he can't contain, all the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, can you see him waving back and forth, like his legs are going out from under him, this is ecstatic joy, sublime revelation, like a man drunk, all the depths of the riches, of both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, his ways, past finding out, where did you see that, in the subject of Israel, and in that subject alone, and especially, there is a revelation of God, in such a depth and magnitude, that takes your breath away, that is staggering, that made all of our past revelations trite, that we have to clap our hands over our mouths, however well informed we were, about God, to say, we don't know as we ought to know, until we've seen God in this, when this breaks upon our heads,.

When we see the revelation of this mystery,.

That God has not forsaken his original people, that there's a massive scheme here, that brings an ultimate consummation, to the eternal praise of his glory,. Then the mystery of Israel, is the revelation of God, as he in fact is, and must be known, and set forth before men, and it's a mystery the church has not known, for centuries,.

Merely to have a sentimental disposition, toward the present state of Israel, or to agree that they deserve to have their own statehood, is in no way a statement of the mystery,. In fact, if you can receive this, I often say to charismatic churches, that have this kind of sentimental affiliation, and love to run to Israel for feasts of tabernacles, conferences,.

And plant trees, and pinch the cheeks of Jews, because they think we're so cute, you know what I say to them?

Your sentimental view, is as much opposed to the perception of God, as those who are wholly antisemitic, and when the bottom falls out, as it certainly will, and Israel will disappoint you, in your vain expectations, so much the projection of your own carnal heart, you'll be the first to oppose that, harsh words cats, but true, well then, where is safety, in the word of God, to have the view of Israel, which is apostolic, and is your privilege today, that in all of our times together, precious though they were, in themselves, were preparation for now, which I didn't know when I began, but I realize it now, we're on a divine course, affecting church history, just in these days, and in this class, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out, for who has known the mind of the Lord, who has been his counselor, who has first given to him, and it shall be given to him again,.

Now listen to this final verse, have it inscribed on your heart, learn how to sing it, it's the summation, of everything that can be considered apostolic,.

That nowhere is brought out in greater fullness,.

In a penetrating light, than in the mystery of Israel, for of him, this mystery is of him,.

This scheme of God, for Israel's restoration, after thousands of years of apostasy, of the rejection and the crucifixion of the Holy One of Israel himself, that would have been seen as a last straw, that would finally justify God forsaking them,.

That would finally justify God forsaking them, but that shows God in another depth, of whom Paul says,.

In Romans 11, the gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable, he will never forsake them,.

He will never forsake them,.

He is not a God who forsakes, he is faithful when we don't abide faithful, when he gives a gift and a calling, to Israel, or to us, you shall be unto me a peculiar people, a nation of priests, and a light unto the world, that that shall not be fulfilled, because of the unwillingness of the nation itself, his name is at stake, his honor is at stake, his power is at stake, if that is not fulfilled, despite the nation, because his word has said so, I have called you, a nation of priests, and you will be that,.

Despite yourself, do you think they share this perspective? Not a bit,.

They're not even interested to hear, what they want to become, is like all other nations,.

In the Hong Kong of the Middle East, that the rich Jordanians, can come to Jerusalem,.

To go shopping, and buy their Gucci leather handbags, the most supreme merchandise available in the world, it's as if God has chosen for himself, the most difficult people, the most unworthy, the most undeserving, that God has not chosen Israel for its virtue,.

It has not, but that through it he might all the more, demonstrate his mercy,. The issue of Israel is God, more revealed as God in Israel's failure, than in Israel's success, that the Lord will not allow Israel, to initiate or fulfill, anything in itself,.

Why? Because we Jews are supremely man, self-assured,.

Supremely capable, who else could have established a modern nation in 50 years,.

And resuscitated a dead liturgical language, Hebrew, and small lower numbers, among the top three great military powers of the world,.

The number one air force,.

Nuclear capability, high-tech civilization, in 50 years, it's a staggering accomplishment,.

That only Jews could perform, who had been saved out of Hitler's gas ovens,.

But that does not glorify God, but man, and Israel has a destiny, because God had promised its father Abraham, from your loins, out of your loins,.

Will come a people, a nation, that will bless all the families of the earth, present. Israel might impress, but it cannot bless, in its present condition,.

Israel stands for man, and God has to settle something, of a cosmic kind, who is supreme in creation, the God who created it, or the creature himself, made in his image, and endowed with remarkable capability, and would seek to be a God unto himself,.

There's a great question at stake here, of why God must humble the nation, break it in its pride, bring it to its death, just like us, and raise it up,.

Just like us, to a newness of life, and in that newness, it will bless all the families of the earth,. There's a death that precedes a resurrection, and a suffering that precedes a glory, this is the wisdom of God, this is the genius of God, this is the reality of God,.

Structured right into reality itself,.

And his final demonstration, to all the world and all the nations, will come through Israel itself, it's a great mystery, so this is of him,.

I did not invent it, Paul didn't invent it, it's God's genius, who knew the end from the beginning, and it's through him,. What does that mean? Israel cannot succeed at this, and nor can we, and bring to Israel what we must,.

We might have succeeded with other issues, on the basis of our well-meaning intentions,.

And religious aptitude, but in the issue of Israel,.

And Israel's restoration, nothing that is in us that is religious, or human, or skilled, can suffice, this mystery must be fulfilled, through him, we are the instrument, he is the enabler, and you are observing it this morning,.

Resurrection Power and the Fulfillment of the Mystery

What do you mean brother? Here's what I mean, I'm not setting forth this mystery, on any basis of my own expertise, though I do have substantial human gifts, and yes, I've spoken this subject before, but this is a mystery, and every single time, that this subject must be expressed, it must itself be a resurrection phenomenon, I had every intention of beginning with the text, and we have yet to come to it,.

Because I'm not in charge of this, this mystery is too precious to God,.

To allow a man to propound it, so I want you to believe me, that the very proclamation this morning, the setting forth of one word after another, the precept by precept, the line upon line, is not my doing, but his, the speaking itself is a resurrection phenomenon, later on you'll realize, but it raises this question, if that's what is required for this mystery, that it's not for man to play with this, to dabble in this, that the Lord himself, in the power of his own life,.

Must set this forth,.

As proclamation, what then will it take to fulfill it,. Let's all whistle together,.

Did you get the point, you know what you're going to say for the first time, when you get the point, and you've never said it before, Paul said it continually, who is sufficient for these things,.

It's ultimate requirement, ultimate mandate, beyond any ability in ourselves to fulfill, independent of his power, Israel is going to be saved through the resurrection glory, by a church who lives and moves and has its being in it,.

Or it will not be saved at all, well meaning intentions will not be saved, because good intentions will not be enough, it's not surprising then, that the current church is celebrating the current Israel, it's not surprising, that this church wants this Zionist movement to be successful, because that absolves them of this requirement,.

The key itself to Israel's resurrection, on the basis of the church's own appropriation of the resurrection life, you say why should anybody be afraid of that, who doesn't want to move and live and have their being in that life, there's only one catch, there's no resurrection without a death, and that's what we want to avoid, both for them and for us, can't Ishmael live, can't Israel succeed, isn't it enough just to sentimentally identify ourselves with the nation, let's look at the text, Paul's writing and teaching came out of practical circumstances, to answer the questions of the church, and the church is asking in Italy, is God finished with Israel,.

Has God cast away his people, verse 1 of chapter 11,. Certainly not,.

It could not be more emphatic, God forbid you should even think that, you can almost sense the apostolic indignation, where did you even get that thought, of course he has not cast them away, his people who before knew, what kind of a God do you think this is, some fickle deity, on today and off tomorrow, he's the enduring God, his mercies endure forever, and his love was never based on our qualifications, it was not in response to our attractiveness, our virtue, it was because he's God, and that's what he is in himself, he's love, and he will not cast away, and if we haven't learned it in any other way, then may we learn it in Israel, for God's dealings with Israel is our textbook, Paul says behold the severity and the goodness of God,.

Where does he say that, in Romans 11, because if you don't behold it, you don't behold God, well I love God's mercy brother, well who wouldn't,.

But have you beheld his severity, you can't have the one without the other, or you have a God of your own making, one that you've shaped, where you exalt the attributes you like, his mercy, his love, his kindness, his goodness, yes that's true of God, but it's not the whole truth, what about his wrath, what about his judgment, what about his severity, what about his chastisement, to exclude those things, to exclude God as judge,.

Is to exclude God, we are excluding God, we call him Jesus, we put a label on him, but it's not the God who is God, if we choose to ignore his severity, the fact of the matter is,.

What is his mercy without his severity,.

Mercy doesn't mean anything, except it comes in response to his severity, as a matter of fact, in the last analysis, his severity is his mercy, do you know God like that, how then shall you make him known, especially to the Jew, who does not know their own God, and waits for that revelation, through you,.

Salvation to the Gentiles and Jealousy for Israel

Let's go to verse 11, Paul takes up the same question, Isaiah, have they stumbled that they should fall, that their rejection is permanent, God forbid, certainly not, then what was the purpose of it, but through their fall,.

In order to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles, are you ready,.

You didn't know it, you would not have salvation at all,.

Were it not for their fall, it's through their fall,.

That the faith of the God of Israel, the God of Jacob, has come to you, who were far off, and without God in the world,.

And without hope,.

Drinking beer out of skulls,.

And performing human sacrifices, and cutting out the living hearts of your victims, on your Mayan altars, pagans, and idolaters, and murderers, in darkness, but God in his mercy, has extended his grace,.

To you who were far off, and without God,.

There's only one, and what the Mayans were celebrating, was the God of this world, there's only one true God, ever and only, he's the Holy One of Israel,.

Who has extended his salvation to you, out of purest grace,. He had to put Peter into a trance,.

Before that poor orthodox man, would even come into a gentile house, the gentiles were unclothed,.

The goyim, the nations, they eat dead things,.

Their worship is, sex with temple prostitutes, their greatest philosophers like Plato, had his own little boy, for his homosexual enjoyment, and nobody in Athens looked up, standard operating procedure, for gentiles who are without God, you see why, if you're ignorant of this mystery, it condemns you to a conceit, as if salvation had always been yours, where the church, those poor dumb Jews blew it, as if this is a Christian thing, always enjoyed by you, it's an institution,.

You've lost the mystery, and reduced the faith, to a common place, because you have not recognized, that you have the regret,.

To their faith, to their covenants, their hopes and their promises, into the commonwealth of Israel itself, he saved you from being merely gentile, he's brought you into an Hebraic faith, in the knowledge of their God, and the hope of their destiny,.

And you think going to church is a drudge, and we have reduced it to something predictable, in exact proportion, as we have lost the mystery, the revelation of the mystery, it makes the church a common place, its programs predictable,.

A weariness of the flesh, that has to be alleviated through novelty, and exciting music, and amplifiers turned on,.

Because we lost the mystery, that would have distinguished us, as the church of God, the very continuation of the Hebraic faith,.

Not for our enjoyment, but for them, that's why I had you whistle, God has just now shown us, the reason for our salvation, you thought it was for you, for your enjoyment, but God says no, that through their fall, through their transgression, salvation has come to the gentiles,.

To provoke them to jealousy, ready? Is this what you are saying cats? That there is a purpose for our salvation,.

Beyond ourselves, greater than ourselves, that this is the mystery,.

That it's intended for another, even Israel itself,.

Who were broken out of their own root, because of their unbelief,.

And that you're waiting for us, to bring them back to their own faith, by such a demonstration that will issue from us, as to move them to jealousy, when they see that we as gentiles, are producing fruit, and enjoying God, in such a Hebraic way, that they themselves don't know,.

And have forfeited, and that we ourselves exhibit,.

Consistently and continually,.

Yes, exactly, that is salvation,.

How are you doing? Are you moving Jews to jealousy? Or you haven't even impressed them? They walk by your churches and yawn, gentile culture, Sunday stuff, where does Paul give us an explanation? I'm looking desperately for an asterisk, with a footnote at the bottom of the page, how to do it, we always want to know how to do it, step one, step two, step three, salvation itself is a formula, number one, God has a plan for your life, number two, God has a plan, number three,.

Number four, God is waiting.

For the fullness of the gentiles to become Him, will you stop acting like gentiles? Will you stop reducing the faith to a methodology, to a technique,.

A system? It's organic, it's living, it pulsates,.

It issues from the life of God,.

It's a mystery, that's Hebraic, God is waiting.

For the fullness of the gentiles at last to become Him, let this sink in, there is a purpose for our salvation as gentiles, it's not some mindless gift that God has given us, without redounding to Himself, in the fulfillment of a mystery, that you gentiles, who have been the object of Jewish scorn, and disdain and contempt in our superiority, religiously and morally and ethically and culturally, you think I'm kidding?

I'm not kidding, look at the winners of the Nobel prizes, always Jews out of proportion to their numbers in the population, a distinguished and accomplished people, contemptuous of gentiles, you know what my mother used to say to me in Brooklyn?

We were poor, yes there are poor Jews, not many, so if I got a few dollars, if we dug a car out of a blizzard, and the man put 10 centavos in my palm, it would burn a hole in my hand, 10 cents, and if I spent it recklessly, if I didn't save it, my mother would say, you have a goyishakov, a gentile mind, you're just like them, easy come, easy go, they get it, they spend it, Jesus saves, but Moses invests, we can laugh over this, but we need to also remember what Jews have suffered historically at the hands of gentiles, who identified themselves as being Christian, the knights of the Middle Ages, the crusaders, how did they finance their expeditions to the Holy Land?

By looting, robbing, and pillaging every Jewish community on the way, and when they got to Jerusalem, they got all the Jews that were then there, into the synagogue, locked them in, and burned them up, they were Christians, there's a saying in Hebrew, kiddushat Hashem, sanctifying the name of God, that's what it's called when you commit suicide, after having slit the throats of your own children, and your own wife, before the gentiles, break down the doors of the synagogue, and come in and rape your daughters and your wife, and compel them to convert to Christianity, better than that, let us choose death, that when those doors are broken down, you'll find us all dead, and none of us will have to convert, to Christianity, kiddushat Hashem, sanctifying the name of God, I never saw this myself, of course I know of it historically, but it was in the air that I breathed as a Jew, I took this up with my mother's milk, enmity against the Goyim, that's what a Christian is, and God says, knowing all of this history, you know what your task is?

The Gospel's Priority to the Jew First

In the last days, in which if you don't succeed, the nation shall not be restored, and I shall not come to be its king,.

And my kingdom shall not be established,.

And the nations will continue in their present sin, everything waits on Israel's restoration, the Lord is contained in the heavens,.

Self-contained, waiting for the restoration, of all things spoken by the prophets, since the world began, the prophets had one subject, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,.

Amos, the minor prophets, the major prophets, one thing, Israel's restoration, at the end of the age, God's waiting for you to move them to jealousy, so that they would choose to receive the faith, which all previous generations have historically rejected, choosing to kill their own children, then they should be converted to Christianity, but from you must come some demonstration, Paul doesn't say what, sufficient to take these critics, in all of their severe intellectual indictments,.

Jews who are rationalists,.

Who despise things that are supernatural, it's offensive to their rational understanding, and it's not just a matter of the Jews, they are empirical, they need to feel, touch and measure, and you're going to tell them that you need their Christ?

They need your Christ? That criminal who was crucified outside the city?

In the dump? Between criminals?

But not a place to lay his head? That that's our Messiah? Even very God? On a cross? The shame that contradicts the dignity of God? If there is a God? And I'm going to believe that? And his blood that was shed 2000 years ago?

Is valid now? To purge my sins? Of which I have no consciousness at all? Because I think I'm such a great guy? Your message is zero for me? It's foolishness! To bring the Gospel to the Jew is the most difficult task given to the Church.

They are historically and chronically opposed! It is anathema to them. It's goyish gentile. They cannot mention the name of Jesus. I was saved 35 years ago in Jerusalem. In the first prayer that I had ever prayed in 35 years.

After the Lord had given me revelation of himself. And I was a university graduate. And an articulate man. And I could not pronounce the name of Jesus. And there's no other name given. Under heaven or in the earth.

Whereby a man can be saved. For whosoever. Jew or gentile. Calls upon the name of the Lord. Shall be saved. Who can't speak the name of Jesus? I couldn't. It was stuck in my throat. I couldn't get it out.

All those years I used it as a curse word.

Jesus Christ this and Jesus Christ that.

And now I'm going to call on that name? Reverently? The name in which my Jewish people have been persecuted? I couldn't do it. Except for the grace that was given. In a single moment of prayer. On May 26, 1964.

I choked and spurted. I would not dignify it to call it a prayer. But I got the name of Jesus out. And I was saved. Something went out of me. Dark. Screwed of the world. Something came into me. The Ruach Hakodesh.

The spirit of holiness. I was born again. From above. By the spirit. In the fulfillment of the word. I called upon the name. Over and against all historic and cultural opposition. By the grace of God.

Because I was being prayed for. By one of my own students in California. And got saved. You know what a mandate is? This is our mandate. Romans 11. And I want to say to you quite clearly. The church that refuses this mandate.

And I can't blame them. It's tough. It's hard. It's demanding. Fearful. Forfeits being the church. Paul says in the very first chapter of Romans. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation.

To the Jew first. And also to the Greek.

And also to the Christian. Come on students. Let's be students. God is expressing something here. A priority. That he calls us to observe. And there's a wisdom and a reason for it. To the Jew first. Then to the Gentiles.

Don't go with it. It's easy. To the South Sea Islands.

Or other exotic places of ministry. Begin where you are. Right in Guatemala City. And Mexico City. And the capitals of your nations. Where Jews are.

In every city where the church is.

All over the world. Jews have been proliferated. In the judgment of God that has scattered them. But also positioned them. That you could have opportunities. To fulfill the mandate. To the Jew first.

And then to the Gentiles. Because you've got to know the power of the gospel. Paul was not ashamed of it. Because it itself. Is the power of God. To the Jew first. So gather up your faith. Go up to the steps of this Jewish home.

Knock on the door. And the door opens. And there is the picture of the world's... The supremacy of the world. Human wisdom. Academic attainment. Ethical and moral quality. And you're going to tell him.

That he needs to be saved. What? You have never felt more foolish. Your message has never felt more absurd. You cry out for something more sophisticated. But you have nothing other than this? The birth, the death, the resurrection, the ascension.

Of a man. Of a Jew. Who was at the right hand of the Father. When Stephen made that statement to religious Jews. They rushed upon him. To gnash upon him with their teeth. They put their fingers in their ears.