In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of both preaching and praying in the Christian faith. He warns against relying solely on one aspect without the other, comparing it to hopping on one leg. The speaker also addresses the historical mistreatment of Jews by the church, but highlights the importance of reaching out to them with the gospel. He shares his personal burden for the salvation of his own people and encourages others to have a heart for the Great Commission, including reaching out to Israel.

For you to hear his heart, you'll see what I'm talking about in just a moment. Would you welcome Dr. Michael Brown. Bless the Lord. Someone named Johan left a Bible up here. You can get it. You'll need to follow as I preach. Yes. Thank you. Hallelujah. Wonderful to be with you. We always look forward to these pastors' conferences with real anticipation. One of the things I've done for years around America and around the world is have special meetings for leaders in the daytime. And when they're gathered here for these conferences, they've always been highlights. God's really spoken in a clear way, and we've seen the Lord really pour out His Spirit because of the hunger and thirst that you carry and because of the frontline battles that you're in. So it's our joy to pour ourselves into you while we're here. And I'll be getting into the message in just a moment. This is the seventh consecutive pastors' conference where I've done a morning session and addressed everyone. And each time, God's really laid something very specific and definite on my heart and really in a unique way this morning. And I'll come to that. But I just want to take a minute, a preaching minute, that is. We have different terminology here. There's a parent's minute when the kid says, Mommy! And the mother says, One minute. There's the mother's minute. Then there's something longer than that, which is the preaching minute. I'll be closing in a minute. And then there's something that has no meaning whatsoever, and that's a revival minute. It's when Steve starts his message and says, In a minute, charity will be singing Mercy Seat. We actually have revival terminology. It's a different language. For example, the other day means somewhere within the last six months. Last month means somewhere since the revival started, four and a half years ago. You know, Steve's been boasting about what God did in his brother George's life. He talked about it yesterday, the conversion, the miracle of salvation. And I was baptized in the revival. And it's a fresh new thing to Steve. It's so exciting and wonderful to him. Here's to hear what your spirit is saying. Father, all of us come with such limitations in our backgrounds. All of us come, Father, with the restrictions of the way we were raised and the environment in which we were saved, and we come to your word and our eyes are opened again and again and again. I pray that something supernatural would happen today, that your simple word of truth would be deposited within us in such a way that the eyes of our understanding would be open, that this group of leaders and all of those with whom they associate and all of those to whom they minister would have an encounter with truth. Father, where there's error in our thinking, I ask you to change it. Where there are wrong attitudes in our thinking, I pray you'd bring us to repentance. Father, where we've been burned or hurt by wrong teaching, bring us back to your word. And I pray that your burden would become our burden, that your heart would become our heart, that we would not be indifferent to things that are important to you. In Jesus' name, amen. For the first time ever in one of our leaders' conferences, the notes in your program actually have to do with my message. Every time for several years now that I've been asked for notes, I've just, I haven't had them, I haven't had them, I haven't known the theme. The conference in April, I prayed and prayed and prayed right up to that morning I didn't know what I was speaking on. But last year, God spoke to me. In 1999, I needed to emphasize Israel more than I had in years. And that at a pastor's conference, I was to bring a message on the foundational importance of Israel, to church life, to revival, to the end times. It's not a peripheral subject. I prayed about bringing it in April and felt not to. I had no clue that the title of this pastor's conference or the theme would be back to the basics. But I knew that I was to bring this message. Now you've got to understand something. I'm not bringing this to you because I'm Jewish. If you've been in the revival, if you've been in the pastor's conferences, this is the seventh one, I've never spoken on this. If you come to my day sessions that I do every week in the revival, Fridays and Saturdays, we've done these for three and a half years now. Every single week, you'll probably find less than three times that I spoke on Israel as the major theme in the entire time. Probably three times or less. If you've ever had me preach in your country, as I've had the joy of preaching around the world, you know that I don't go out and primarily preach on Israel. My primary message for years and years and years has been repentance and revival. Repentance and revival. Repentance and revival. Holiness and harvest. These have been the themes that have burned in me for years and years and years and years. And yet I am sure that as we get closer and closer to the end of the age, that God will restore more and more foundations to his body. That God will restore more and more of our roots. It's an interesting thing, but at the turn of the century, there were literally just a handful of people who were believing in the gifts and power of the Spirit for today, even though that was the foundation of the body, the foundation of the church. Today we have more than 500 million people worldwide believing in the gifts and power of the Spirit for today. It is sweeping the church universally. A few decades ago, in many circles, if you talked about apostolic ministry or prophetic ministry, people were clueless. They knew pastor, they knew teacher, maybe evangelist. You talked about other things, they were somewhat clueless. God's been restoring. Some of the circles that many of you came from, it was revolutionary when someone went like this during the service. When the hands got this high, it was, whoa, radical breakthrough. Some of you can remember the first time that you tried to raise your hands, you sat on the pew right on the end there, so you could put your hand right on the edge of the pew, so it wasn't that obvious that you were raising your hand. Some of you remember the first time that you broke out and danced in a church service. Your feet felt like they weighed 1,000 pounds each. Every eye was looking at you, even though their eyes were all closed. They were all looking at you. Now it's just so common, this expression of free worship and praise. Vance Havner, who was a Baptist evangelist, used to say, we Baptists start at 11 o'clock sharp and end at 12 o'clock dull. Some of you come from a background where a service more than an hour was radical, and now your services can go sometimes three, four, five, six hours. God coming down, God moving. Lots of things are happening now that haven't happened for generations, because biblical roots are being restored. And one of the most important biblical roots that's going to be restored is the importance of the salvation of the Jewish people. Not as a peripheral thing, not just the burden of a few, but this must be the burden of the church. And it struck me. It happened last night. It's happened at several pastors' conferences. The leaders that have been here, everyone can attest to it. Suddenly, with no explanation, when the Israel banner is brought out, when the Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem banner is brought out, it happened last night, suddenly the burden begins to hit people. We've had people sometimes just begin to weep when that's brought out. Suddenly, unexpectedly, it's the heart of God. There's an ongoing sense of anguish and pain because of the lost state of the Jewish people. And it is of ultimate importance to the church today to get things right. You're going to understand it. Now, do I have permission to share my heart freely? Can I be unguarded? I don't know if you realize what it's like to be a Jew in the midst of the body. I've been saved now just about 28 years. And all my believing life I've been surrounded by Christians who love Jesus and who love the Jewish people. But I was at one conference one time and Christians from all over the country and someone got up and said, How many of you can't wait when you get to heaven to meet all your unsaved loved ones? And hands went up everywhere. And I thought, I don't have any that I know of waiting for me yet. Still praying for some family members that are yet alive. I love those that are dead. I have no hope or no assurance of their salvation. You can have a conference of a thousand Jewish believers and say, How many of you can't wait to see your unsaved loved ones in heaven? And a few hands go up. And others put their heads down and begin to weep. I want you to see Paul's heart in Romans the ninth chapter. We're going to use a lot of scripture. I'm going to do my best to cover things in a way that you can digest. So we'll see just how far we can get. Trust me, this is going to fall in place for you very clearly. Romans nine. In Paul's important doctrinal letter, Romans, where he lays out the foundations of the faith, he takes three whole chapters to deal with Israel. I wonder if there's any kind of emphasis like that in our preaching or in our teaching that would equal the importance Paul put on Israel, if that's reflected in our pulpits. Romans nine. I speak the truth in Messiah. I am not lying. My conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I can wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption of sons. Their is the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised. Amen. Notice how he emphasizes this. If he just said, I speak the truth, that would be enough. But he wants you to understand there's no exaggeration. He said, I speak the truth in Christ. Well, that would have been even more than enough. But then he says, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit. I'm not lying. There's not exaggeration. I have unceasing anguish. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, we are sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Why sorrow? Well, there was the pain for a dying world and the pain for the weak members of the body, but the constant pain that his own people, his own flesh and blood, the Messiah's own flesh and blood, did not recognize their Messiah as a nation. He had unceasing anguish and pain, and he carried it to the point he could wish he could be cut off if it would bring their salvation. I want you to understand that the salvation of the Jewish people should be important to all believers. You may have a particular burden. Maybe you're a Native American, and you have a burden for the Native Americans, and you want the church to be sensitive to it, and that's important. Or maybe you're from a particular European nation that's barely touched by the gospel, and you want everyone praying for that nation, and you have a burden for it. That's important. I agree. But not everyone is called to carry that burden, yet I present to you that every believer is called to carry the burden for the salvation of the Jewish people. When Paul wrote in Romans 1.16, he's not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and then to the Gentile. That's telling something about his mentality. What if it said, first to the Italian, and then to the rest of the world? First to the people of Singapore, and then to the rest of the world? First to the Germans, and then to the rest of the world? That would get your attention. When he said, first to the Jew, on the one hand, that's how the gospel came. First to the Jew, then it went to the rest of the world. But that was Paul's pattern of ministry for life. Whenever he went to a new area, the first ones he talked to were Jews. Why? Because the gospel is specially for Jews. It's the news about the Jewish Messiah. You go to the end of the book of Acts, the pattern never changed. That would tell me that as a church, as believers, that that should be something in our minds, in our hearts, of importance. Let me just take it a little further. Without the Jewish people, there would be no Messiah. Without the Jewish people, there would be no apostles. Without the Jewish people, there would be no Bible. There's a certain indebtedness. There's a certain appreciation. My own background is not with the assemblies of God. I'm not ordained with the assemblies of God. I've had good relations with various assemblies of God ministers through the years, but I'm not ordained by them. God sent revival to an assembly of God church here. God called me to serve as part of the leadership team here, and under John Kilpatrick. To me, there's a principle of honoring the Father. To me, there's a principle of specially honoring the assemblies because this is an assemblies church. God's poured out His Spirit here and called me to work in the midst of it. There's an appreciation in my heart for what God has done, and I am sharing, even though I sowed tears for years for revival and wrote on it for years and years and years, God poured out His Spirit here and called me to be involved here. So I have a certain attitude of honor for the home assembly and for the home denomination, even though it's not my own background. How much more, when your Messiah is Jewish, I didn't say was Jewish, I said is Jewish, because as far as His manhood, He remains Jewish. The one who comes in the clouds is the lion of the tribe of Judah. The fact that your Messiah is Jewish and the ones in the first place that brought the gospel to the Gentiles were Jewish. And the fact that the prophets that you read and the scriptures that you read were passed on through Jewish hands, that should just say to you, you know, it's somewhat important that these people hear about their own God and their own Messiah, that I pray for them. See, we have gotten desensitized because we're used to things, and then there's the history of antisemitism, then there's all the misunderstanding and junk and so on for many of our upbringings. But just think of this for a minute. I've been to Italy and preached there more than any other country. I was saved in an Italian Pentecostal church. That makes a lot of sense. Here I was, Jewish, teenager, shooting heroin, using LSD, playing drums in a rock band. That's a logical place for God to send me to be saved, a little Italian Pentecostal church. Somehow I believe God's wanted me to repay the spiritual debt to the Italian church, and I've been to Italy more than any other country. What if Jesus were Italian? Let's change the picture here for a minute. We're so familiar with Jewish people, Israel, all this. Let's change the picture. What if Jesus was Italian? So instead of being Jesus in English, his name was Gesù, his mother Maria, his earthly father Giuseppe, some of the gospel writers, Matteo, Marco, and Luca. And the holy city is not Jerusalem but Rome. I just want you to get a picture here. So Gesù comes, and he announces his messiahship and gathers around him these Italian disciples. Mario, Vincenzo. He gathers these disciples around, and they begin to proclaim the news, but he's rejected, and his own people betray him and hand him over to be killed. And he weeps, he says, this city is going to be destroyed. It's going to be destroyed. I'm telling you, you won't see me again until you recognize me as the messiah and welcome me back. What happens is, Rome is destroyed, and the Italian people are scattered all over the world. But wherever the disciples go, Matteo and Marco and Mario, wherever they go, they tell everybody. They tell the people of Israel the good news about the Italian messiah and deliverance. Come! The people of Israel receive, and they go into the African nations, and they go into the Asian nations, and they go over to North America and to Europe, and they tell everybody the good news. And in all these people groups, people are responding, responding, responding, responding, and now they're spreading the message to their own people, but the Italians don't believe. The Italians, still their cities in ruins, and they're still scattered all over the world, and they still don't believe, and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years go by, and only a small percentage of the Italian people only believe in the Italian messiah. Wouldn't it be right and fitting for all the other believers in the body to pray regularly for the Italian people? Wouldn't that seem strange? Of course not. Why does it seem strange to some of us when I urge that the church should be praying regularly for the salvation of the Jewish people? Why does that seem odd? Could it be that the enemy knows the importance of Israel's salvation, and therefore he fights against it all he can? Could it be he realizes the key to Israel's salvation is the prayer of the church, and he fights that all he can? Listen. There's only one city in the Word that God gave specific instructions to pray for, and that's Jerusalem. Psalm 122. Pray. Ask for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will be at rest. Isaiah 62. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I've established watchmen. God said, don't give yourselves any rest, and don't give me any rest until I establish Jerusalem, the praise of all the earth. You say, well, I think those are taken spiritually. That just means to pray for the church as a whole. I have no problem if you also apply the verses spiritually, but don't steal the original meaning. I wonder, is it spiritual in Zechariah 12 when God says Jerusalem is going to be a city of controversy, a cup that causes people to tremble all around the world, and that all nations will fight against Jerusalem? Isn't it literal Jerusalem right now that's the center of controversy all around the world? Isn't that the one place where a sovereign nation has set up its capital, and yet that capital is not recognized by most of the rest of the world? Isn't it literally to Jerusalem that Jesus is coming back to establish his earthly kingdom? Which Jerusalem are we praying for? If you want to spiritualize the one, you've got to spiritualize the other. But you see, we actually have a system of interpretation that we use when we go through the Old Testament. All the blessings and the promises apply spiritually to the church, and all the curses are for the Jews. We're actually consistent. Jesus berated various cities where he had gone, and miracles were performed, and they didn't believe. Yet there's one city in particular that he wept over. Luke 19, he wept over Jerusalem. Even the New Testament itself, if we read it through more Jewish eyes, trust me, if you stood behind the mother of Jesus and called her Mary, she wouldn't respond. Or any variation of Mary, she wouldn't respond. Why? Because her name was not Mary, it was Miriam. Just as much as the sister of Moses was Miriam. You think of how it would change the picture if I said that Moses had a sister named Mary. Gives a different feel to it. When I talk about Yeshua's mother was Miriam, we only say Mary because it comes to us through Greek, and from Greek into English it's Mary, but it's actually Miriam. Her name was Miriam, just as much as Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron. I'll show you something in English that shows how far off we've gotten. We speak of the epistle of James. In Greek it's not James, it's Jacob. And that's a particular English problem. If you're from Germany, how do you say James, the epistle of James in German? Jakobus, Jakob. If you're from Norway, how do you say it? Jakob. If you're from Japan, how do you say it? Jakob. If you're from France, how do you say it? Jacques. I'm not asking any Spanish-speaking countries. It's Santiago in Spanish. Figure that one out. We've had some explanations for that, but none that have satisfied so far. But every language, every other, you get outside of English, and it's Jacob. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob, Jacob. The epistle of Jacob. Who did he write it to? To the 12 tribes scattered abroad. It's Jacob writing the Jewish believers. Feels a lot different when you read the letter of Jacob. Or how about the epistle of Judah? Jude sounds like a Catholic saint in many of our ears. Judah sounds like Old Testament Jewish. There's no justification for James. In fact, if you want to just start to change people's thinking a little bit, in English, when you preach, preach from the epistle of Jacob. I wrote to a guy that was denying Jesus, a Jewish guy that was being pulled away from Jesus, and I referred him to Jacob chapter such and such and verse such and such. He wrote back saying, there is no such book. I said, that just shows how little you know about the thing you're denying. You're running from it because it's not Jewish. It is Jewish, you just don't understand it right. You know, the quote Christmas story sounds a lot differently when you speak about, now this explains the birth of Yeshua the Messiah, his mother Miriam, and so on. It goes on like that. It feels a little different. Every believer is indebted to the Jewish people for salvation. Let me ask you a question here. How many of you were born from a woman? Everyone here have a mother? We only get the cream of the crop at these conferences. No weirdos here. Now look, out of the first woman, out of the first man came woman. Correct? And every man since then has come out of woman. We're dependent on each other, wouldn't you say? In the history of things, it was a Jewish womb that birthed the believers, and those believers through the ages have predominantly been Gentile. It is the role of those Gentile believers to remember their origins and pray lovingly for the salvation of the Jewish people. Even if you look at Israel's calendar, Passover signifying the sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And then immediately after that, first fruits, which signifies His resurrection. And then the next major event, Pentecost, Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And then a gap of months, signifying the period in which we're living. And then what's next? Feast of Trumpets. How does the Messiah come back? His second coming, how does He come back? He comes back with a blast of a trumpet. You read Zechariah 12, it speaks of Him coming and the Jewish people mourning and weeping over Him. He comes with the sound of a trumpet. Then you read in the 13th chapter, what's next on Israel's calendar? Atonement. Israel weeps and mourns and recognizes the Messiah and receives national atonement. That's what Zechariah 13 talks about. Fountain of Cleansing opened up. And then what's Zechariah 14 talk about? The Feast of Tabernacles. Israel's calendar is a prophetic picture of the death and resurrection and return of the Messiah. It's laid out in scripture, you can't get away from it. Won't be fulfilled without Israel right in the thick of it. You ever been going somewhere as a family and you're ready to drive out? Wait, wait, wait, hang on. Where's Billy? Come on, Billy, we gotta go. Well, you got three out of the four ready, let's go. No, no, you don't do that. There was this huge vehicle pulling out last night. Somewhere between a bus and a van. It was the Johnson's family van. Benny Hazel and their clan of eight. Well, I mean, if you get seven out of eight, you just leave anyway, right? I mean, where's the baby? Yeah, don't worry about the baby, we got seven out of eight. God's not gonna be satisfied till his people come back. God's not gonna be satisfied till everybody's in the van that's supposed to be in the van. Look, as a Jew getting saved and talking to rabbis early on and so on, I've always had a burden to see my people saved. But it was only over a period of years, the significance began to explode in me. And one particular time, it was in 1984, in the summer of 84, I heard Reinhard Bonnke speaking, the first time I had heard him speak in person. And as he was preaching his message and talking about Africa shall be saved, the Spirit began to preach a whole different message to me. And what the Spirit was saying to me is, yes, I've spoken that to him by my spirit. I've spoken that to him by my spirit. But how much more sure is my word where it is written, and so all Israel shall be saved. Amen to the one, I believe it. How fitting it is that that was proclaimed again here last night by those same lips. But amen all the more to what's written in Romans 11.26, and so all Israel shall be saved. The picture's not complete until the Jewish people are back in. Unfortunately, one of the great sins of the church has been replacement theology. The view that the church has displaced Israel from its divine purposes. There are things that God gave Israel to do that it failed to do, and the people of God universal, Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus, now must carry out that mandate. We heard that last night, the call to take the message of God to the whole earth. Israel was to be a light to the nations, as a nation it failed, but through the Messiah it's realized. But the church has not displaced and replaced Israel. Hear me. Please hear me. I want you to understand this, then we're going to look at Scripture. As I have studied this issue carefully and looked at it from different angles and had to wrestle with it and agonize over it, there is no question that the major thing that opened the door to anti-Semitism and Jew hatred in the church through the centuries is the theology that the church displaced Israel. And it's the very theology that Paul warned about in Romans 11. And interestingly, the very thing that Reinhard Bonnke spoke about when he said Paul gave a warning, I went right to Romans 11.22, I knew where he was going. We'll come to it in a minute. The church has not replaced Israel. The church is the Messiah's body consisting of redeemed Jews and Gentiles. From Korea, from Canada, from Italy, from Kenya, from around the world, a people from every tribe and nation brought in to one body, one family, the people of God, the called-out ones, the church, the body of the Messiah. Yet Israel, as a people, retains its peoplehood. It remains under judgment, but remains under covenant promise so when repentance comes, they'll be grafted back in. It has nothing to do with who's right and wrong in the political scene on a daily basis. It doesn't mean that Jews are especially righteous through our history. We've often been especially stiff-necked. It has to do with the covenant of God. And I want you to understand this. If the church has replaced Israel because of Israel's disobedience, then God might just as well replace the church one day. Maybe the Muslims are right. You know, there's the Old Testament, New Testament, then there's the Koran, and that's the seal of it all. We say, no, no, no, no, no, because God has made unconditional promises to the church. He's made unconditional promises to Israel. Just listen to a few of them. You've actually got them in your notes. It's a miracle. You have no idea how much Steve Hill and my staff harassed me to produce notes for a conference. Jeremiah 30, verse 11, I am with you and will save you, declares the Lord. Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but only with justice. I will not let you go entirely unpunished. Jeremiah 31, 10, Hear the words of the Lord, O nations! Proclaim it in distant coastlands. He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd. He who scattered who? Israel. Jewish people in disobedience and sin. Scattered to the nations. Who's the promise to? Those who are scattered. What will God do? Bring them back. Even as it says in Ezekiel 36, He'll bring them back in their unbelief, just as we've seen in this century. And there in the land, have mercy on them. Look in Jeremiah 31, beginning in verse 35. The new covenant promise was given in verses 31 to 34. Bear in mind, this is not a new covenant to the Gentiles because the Gentiles never had a covenant. This is a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah that the Gentiles get to join in on. You know what it's like? I invite you over to my house to have dinner with me, and while I'm going out of the room to bring the food in, you take up all the chairs and say, you're not welcome here anymore, buddy. I cooked the food, I prepared it, I sat you down at my table. We don't need you anymore. So God gave a promise of a new covenant, but it's almost as if the Holy Spirit was anticipating that people would take it wrong and say, well, if there's a new covenant, maybe that means that there's an entirely new people and God's done with the old people. He doesn't want anything to do with them anymore. They're cursed, they're rejected, they're just going to suffer, period, end of subject. It's almost as if the Holy Spirit anticipates this, and right after the new covenant promise, beginning in verse 35, this is what the Lord says. He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord Almighty is his name. Only if these decrees vanish from my sight, declares the Lord, will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me. I would say that's clear. Let me ask you a question. Did you notice that there was still sun shining today? Was there moon, stars last night? Is there still a sea with waves? If that's the case, then God has not replaced Israel. But what if Israel stands real, real bad? This is what the Lord says. Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out, will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done, declares the Lord. And if God changes the identity of Israel here, then he's a fork-tongued God. It's like if I say to you, Mr. Jones, I promise I'm going to be faithful to you and your descendants and provide for them no matter what they do. And then the next generation comes along, I don't like them, so I call someone else and say, Your name is now Mr. Jones. I'm going to be faithful to you. You get thrown in jail for that kind of junk. And yet we put that on God. Look at Jeremiah 33. We'll just jump to the end. Start in verse 23. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Have you noticed that these people are saying the Lord has rejected the two kingdoms he chose so they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation. This is what the Lord says. If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David, my servant, and will not choose one of his descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them. Go with me back to Romans 9. Normally in these day sessions, in the pastor's conferences, instead of teaching, God normally gives me a message, a burning prophetic word for the hour. I do more preaching than teaching at these pastor's conferences, but it's clear God wants me to lay these foundations to make sure that we understand. We heard last night that if you just have praying, praying, praying, praying, praying without preaching, you're handicapped. I'm not going to try to duplicate the moves, but just hopping on one leg, if you just have preaching, preaching, preaching without praying, praying, praying, you're hopping on the other leg. It works much better when both legs are right. You ever seen someone through an injury, one leg's shorter than the other, or through a birth defect, and they kind of walk like this? That's how the church walks unless it gets Israel right. That's how the church walks unless it gets holiness right. That's how the church walks unless it gets the unity of the body right. That's how the church walks unless it gets missions and evangelism right. There are certain essentials, non-negotiables, that are important to every single believer. Paul says in Romans 9, verse 6, it's such a pain to him that the Messiah comes to his own people, and his own people by and large reject him. He said, it's not as though God's word had failed, for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. You know how we've misused that verse? Here's what Paul's saying. Not everybody who is actually Israel is truly spiritual Israel, is truly the recipient of the covenant promises. You've got the whole body of Israel, all the human Israelites, and within them you've got a covenant-keeping remnant that's real Israel. You know what we've strangely done? We've taken that to say that the church is the new Israel. Whereas all Paul was talking about was within the body, within the people of Israel, who real Israel is. If I say, listen, not everybody in the church is really the church, you'd all agree with that, wouldn't you? Does that mean that Buddhists are the church? Hindus are the church? Muslims are the church? No. So when Paul says not all who are Israel are really Israel, does that mean that all Christians are Israel? No, he didn't say that. Never meant it. Never thought it. He said, well, prove it to me from the Word. Thank you. We were sitting over lunch with a minister the other day, and he started talking about a subject he's preached on. It's a favorite subject of mine. So I started giving him all the references. Gave him all the references. I said, there's this verse here, and this verse here, and this verse here, and this is... And we just started talking about it. I was quoting all the passages on this particular subject. And he said to me, he said, you've got in your head what I have down on paper from my notes. Same Bible, friends. And what I'm saying to you, I'm not saying lightly. I'm not saying this just happened to think of this this morning and flip through a few verses. You study this out consistently. You go through all the references that we've listed in our other books. You go through verse after verse after verse after verse. This is not a negotiable matter. Who's Paul talking about? He makes this point about there's a spiritual Israel, there's a people of God within the nation as a whole. But now look at what he keeps saying. Romans 9, 27. Isaiah cries out concerning who? Israel. Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. He's talking about Israel as a nation, as a people, as a whole. Only remnant will be saved. Isaiah 9, excuse me, Romans 9, 31. Israel who pursue the law of righteousness has not obtained the righteousness that comes by faith. Who has not obtained it? Israel. Which Israel? Israel as a whole. He refers to them in Romans 10, 1. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them, for the Israelites, is that they may be saved. Who's he talking about? Unsaved Israel. Romans 10, 16. But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. Who? The unsaved, the non-believing. Romans 10, 19 to 21. I ask again, did not Israel understand? Which Israel? Unsaved, non-believing Israel. Speaking of them, boldly, Isaiah says in the 29th verse, I was found by those who did not seek me, meaning the Gentiles. Verse 21, but concerning Israel, he says, all day long I've held up my hands to a disobedient, obstinate people. Who does he mean by Israel? Unsaved, non-believing. Romans 11, 1 and 2. I ask then, did God reject His people? By no means, I'm an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. I'm one of them, and yet God had mercy on me. Romans 11, 7. What then Israel sought so earnestly, it did not obtain, but the elect did. He's speaking of Israel as a nation, as a whole, and out of that, only the elect. Romans 11, 11. Again, I ask, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all. Verse we'll come back to. Romans 11, 25. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited. Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved. Which Israel? The Israel that has been in rebellion. The Israel that has been rejected. The Israel that has been hardened in part. That Israel will be saved. There's more I could get into. We don't have the time. Some nights, late at night, I've just taken out a Hebrew prayer book, just flipping through the pages. And no burden has ever torn at me like that burden. Some nights I just read the hearts of Jewish people. There are plenty of Jewish hypocrites. Most Jews that you'll meet in America today are more secular in their orientation than spiritual. You can meet very religious Jews, and you'll find hypocrites in the Jewish faith just like you'll find hypocrites in the church. Sometimes I've looked at the words that sincere Jewish men and women have prayed. Some nights the burden just overwhelms me. Just a few months ago, I was just reading some stuff late at night and just began crying and crying. So near and yet so far. So near and yet so far. I want you to just hear this for a minute. I've got some of these excerpted, and our hands are stained with blood. Look at some of the prayers that Jews pray every day. Some of the confessions they make. I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah. And even though He delay, I will wait for Him every day that He will come. I don't know how that makes you feel when you hear that. Three times a day, Jews pray, bring us back, our Father, to Your law, and bring us near, O King, to Your service and influence us to return in perfect repentance before You. Blessed are You, O Lord, who desires repentance. Praying daily, forgive us, our Father, for we have erred, we have erred. Pardon us, our King, for we have willfully sinned. For You pardon and forgive. Blessed are You, O Lord, the gracious One who pardons abundantly. Pray daily, behold our affliction, take up our grievance and redeem us speedily. For You are a powerful Redeemer. Blessed are You, O Lord, Redeemer of Israel. People praying these things with all their heart daily. So near, yet so far. The average religious Jew spends far more time in daily prayer than the average Christian. Praying to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for mercy and repentance and for the coming of the Messiah. You gave me permission to be honest. Let me tell you plainly that along with the hardness of the heart that's come on us as a people for rejecting our Messiah, I want you to know that next to that the greatest thing that has kept Jews away from Jesus has been the testimony of the so-called church. I want you to know that many thousands of Jews have died with the confession on their lips, Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. They've died with that confession on their lips as crusaders came to them and said, Be baptized or die. Be baptized into an apostate church that's trying to grow by the sword or die, and they said, We will be loyal to our God. That's what a lot of Jews think of. The crusaders had the crosses on their soldiers' uniforms. 1099, the crusaders went through Europe. You may not know the history. Jews know the history, especially the religious. They went through Europe. They were going to liberate the Holy Land from the Muslim infidels, and as they went through city after city, they began to say, Wait a second, we have the Christ killers right here in our midst. They began to proclaim it. Kill a Jew and save your soul. They arrived in Jerusalem in the summer of 1099. Factual history. Overcame the Muslim and Jewish resistance. Jews were gathered together in the great synagogue in Jerusalem, and the crusaders burned it to the ground with the Jews burned alive on the inside as they marched around singing, Christ, we adore Thee. That's what a lot of Jews think of when they think about Jesus. One Jewish believer, a survivor of the Holocaust. God had overcome a whole lot in her life to save her, because when she was taken into the Holocaust, there in the gates of the concentration camp was written, because you killed our God, we kill you. The Inquisition would have burned Peter and Paul at the stake, because the Inquisition required all professing Christians to renounce any ties with anything Jewish. Let me read you something. Here's a baptismal formula from the Middle Ages. Jews were required to say the likes of this. To be baptized, I renounce the whole worship of the Hebrews, circumcision, all its legalisms, unleavened bread, Passover, the sacrificing of lambs, the feast of weeks, jubilees, trumpets, atonement, tabernacles, and all of the Hebrew feasts, their sacrifices, prayers, aspersions, purifications, expiations, fasts, Sabbaths, new moons, foods and drinks. Translators, I apologize. I wasn't thinking. I'll go slower. And I absolutely renounce every custom and institution of the Jewish laws. In one word, I renounce absolutely everything Jewish. That was to get into the church. They had to confess, I will eat pork. I will reject the rabbis. I will worship Mary to get in the church. Hear this again. Petition prayed three times a day. Hear our voice, O Lord our God. Pity and be compassionate to us. And accept with compassion and favor our prayer for God who hears prayers and supplications of you. Listen to this. This is a prayer that's often prayed by Jews on their deathbed. I'll just jump in partway through. He is the living God to save. My rock while sorrows, toils endure. My banner and my stronghold sure. The cup of life whenever I crave. I place my soul within his palm before I sleep is when I wake. And though my body I forsake, rest in the Lord in fearless calm. Next time you talk about Jews going to hell, talk about with a broken heart, right? Talk about it and feel the weight and the reality of it, my friend. Understand why it's been such a blemish on the church for so long that we've been so insensitive to something so important to God. When a Jew keeps the law, and bear in mind some of these very Jews that I'm talking about would hotly persecute people like me and have beaten up friends of mine for believing in Jesus, kidnapped somebody from our home for believing in Jesus. Just want you to understand the nature of the battle and what goes on in their hearts. When a Jew keeps the law to him, that's a gift that God gave the Jewish people. A sacred treasure. Listen, this is the beginning of the standard Jewish law code. The psalmist said, I have set the Lord before me always. I just translated this from Hebrew for the book. I have set the Lord before me always. This is Jewish law code. This is what the rabbis said at the beginning. This is a cardinal principle of the Torah and a fundamental principle of life among the pious who walk before the Lord. For the attitude, dealings, and conversation of a man when in the presence of a king are not the same as when he is in his own home, family, and friends. How much more will a man be careful with his words and deeds if he but realize that the King of kings, whose glory fills the whole earth, watches over him and observes his deeds. As it is written, if a man should hide himself in secret places, will I not see him, saith the Lord. Bearing this in mind, a man will acquire reverence for God, humility and piety, and will be ashamed to do anything wrong. We come with a few prophecies and throw it at somebody like this, with the shallow state of so much Christianity, and we think Jews are just going to fall on their faces and repent. Friend, when the church is different, when the church makes Israel envious, that's going to be the great fruit of revival. Now trust me, I'm going to encourage you momentarily. I'm about to give you some wonderful news. I'm about to give you some news that's going to be totally eye-opening. And I'm going to close and spend the final minutes on something that is going to edify you and bless you and come alive to you. But just feel the pain another moment. You may say, look, all the stuff you're talking about. You go back to the 4th century, and Chrysostom, the greatest preacher of his day, saying God hates the Jews and I hate the Jews. So yeah, but by the 4th century, the church was falling away in so many ways and so many of these things. This was the apostate age of apostate Catholic church in the Middle Ages. And what about the Reformation? What about Luther? What about all the changes that that brought? Well, thank God for the changes. When Luther started his ministry in 1523, he wrote a wonderful little book that Jesus Christ was born a Jew. And he tried to show the Jewish people that Jesus was one of their own and that the Gentiles were just almost kid sisters and brothers to their older brothers and sisters, the Jews. But over a period of years, the Jews did not turn in mass to Luther's Messiah. And as he got older and sicker and exposed to various other things, his tone became more and more venomous until he wrote his famous book, which is still republished by neo-Nazis, called Concerning the Jews and Their Lives. These were words that were taken up by the Nazis. In fact, Kristallnacht, the official beginning of the Holocaust, was launched in commemoration of Martin Luther's birthday. Thank God for all the good Luther did. Hang our heads in shame for the evil. These are the words of Martin Luther, his counsel to the princes and leaders of Germany, how to deal with the Jews. First, their synagogues should be set on fire. What happened in Kristallnacht? They burned the synagogues. Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed. Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer books and Talmuds. Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach anymore. Fifthly, passport and traveling privileges should be absolutely forbidden to the Jews. Sixthly, they ought to be stopped from charging interest on loans. Seventhly, let the young and strong Jews and Jewesses be given the flail, the axe, the hoe, the spade, the distaff, and spindle, and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses. We ought to drive the rascally, lazy bones out of our system, therefore, away with them. To some up-dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may all be free of this insufferable, devilish burden, the Jews. That's what can be translated. The more vulgar things, the more profane, cannot even be translated and spoken from a Christian pulpit. Listen to me. There are international Christian leaders that when they visit the Middle East, visit Palestinian terrorists. This is not to say everything the Jews do in Israel is right and everything the Palestinians do is wrong. It's to say this, that to this day, when you witness in Israel, you do not tell an Israeli you are a Christian. That is completely counterproductive. If you're a Jew, you don't have to tell them I'm a Jewish believer. I'm a follower of the Messiah. I'm a Messianic Jew. If you say they're a Christian, that means you are part of a pagan, false, foreign religion. Let me encourage you, though. You say, please do. Let me tell you why Israel's salvation is so important to God and to us. I was given a lovely watch when I was overseas recently. The only problem is when the light shines on it, you have no clue what time it is. I've got a few minutes. Let me back my way into this. Jesus left Jerusalem. He mourned over it. He spoke of its coming destruction. He said in Matthew 23, those famous Hebrew words, He said, You will not see Me again until you say, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Those words were taken from Psalm 119. It's the way they welcomed Jesus into the city because those were the words that became the words spoken for the Messianic King. That's how they would welcome Him in. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the Son of David. That's how they welcomed the Messiah. When He came in, His triumphal entry, they welcomed Him as Messiah, and a few days later turned on Him and handed Him over to be crucified. He said, You will not see Me again until you welcome Me back as the Messiah. He said that to Jerusalem, representing His own people. Only the Messiah's own people, His own flesh and blood, can welcome Him back to His own home city. Now hear me. It says in Revelation 1, 7, that when He comes, every eye will see Him. Now I know in this group we have a number of people that come from a number of different end-time backgrounds. And we have folks that are pre-trib and mid-trib and post-trib. God spoke to me many years ago to never divide over end-time issues. You talk to people that have worked with me for years and years and years and years and years, and they won't even know, I've never a single time ever taken a position that would ever be divisive on end times. And in other words, if what I'm saying fits in one system or another, if you look at Scripture, it all fits just the same. Listen to me. Revelation 1, 7, every eye will see Him. If you're pre-trib, then that would mean to you, when He comes, not the rapture, but the second coming, to establish His earthly kingdom, coming in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and destroying the wicked, and establishing His kingdom. Every eye will see Him then. If you're post-trib, then you'd put the events closer together. You'll hear consistently from the pulpit here, from Steve and Pastor and Lendl, a strong pre-trib emphasis. But wherever you're coming from, hear me. Every eye will see Him. That definitely refers to His physical descent, to what we would all refer to as His second coming. Amen? Every eye will see Him when He comes, but He said, Jerusalem, you will not see Me until you welcome Me back as the Messiah. Do you know what that means? If Jerusalem will not see Him until Jerusalem welcomes Him back, then no one will physically see Him until Jerusalem welcomes Him back. Ultimately, His establishing His kingdom on the earth is dependent on Jerusalem's welcoming Him back. It's almost like everybody said, Come on, God! Come on! Welcome Him back already! Come on! I think of kind of a picture from 2 Samuel 19 when David fled. David fled from Absalom. But Absalom was killed, and the tribes of Israel started saying, Oh, you know, David's been our king. He's been a good king. David, come back! And he sent messengers to the tribe of Judah. He said, You're my own flesh and blood. Why should you be the last to welcome the king back? He wouldn't come until His own kinsmen after the flesh welcomed Him back. Friends, there's a dimension of the end times which is totally dependent on the salvation of the people of Israel. For everything to finalize, even if you have a theology that says, Well, we're out of here. What do we have to think about? God's end times are important to all believers right to the end. The fulfillment of His purpose is important to all of us to the end. Jesus is saying, It's wonderful that all the nations of the world are asking me to come back. In fact, when you say Maranatha, you're not praying Greek words. You're praying Aramaic words because they're prayed by Jews. Maranatha! Our Lord! Come! It's Aramaic. Our Lord! Come! He's saying, Well, it's nice everybody's asking me to come back, but what about my own people? Who else is going to welcome me back to the city of Jerusalem? Now, I want you to hear something. Look at this in Romans 11. Romans 11. Verse 11. Again, I ask, Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all. Be nice to hang that up in every church that believes to the contrary around the world. Not at all. You know, Jesus was telling His disciples about His ascending to heaven and sending the Spirit and they said, Hey, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They said, You jerks, you fools, you stupid idiots. I'm through with Israel. I'm never going to restore the kingdom to Israel. Why did you ask such a stupid question? Is that what He said? He said, No. It's not for you to know the times and seasons. Good question. Fair enough. It's not for you to know the times and the seasons. You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes and you'll be my witnesses. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth. That's what you've got to concentrate on. I'll take care of the other things. He didn't say, You stupid fools. I'm not going to restore the kingdom to Israel. He said, That's just none of your business. You concentrate on this. But look at this. This is an overwhelming truth here. Rather, because of their transgression, they didn't fall beyond recovery. Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring? Listen to me. Hear me. Right now, everyone here that is not born Jewish, raise your hands. All of you are saved because Israel got it wrong. I mean, that's what he's saying, that Israel's transgression has brought salvation and life to the Gentiles. Gentiles is not a dirty word. It's the nations. You read Romans 9, 10, 11. Paul's talking to... I'm talking to you Gentiles about Israel. I'm talking to you Gentiles about Israel. You people from all the nations, talking about my people Israel. Now hear this. Right now, blind eyes are being opened. Cripples are walking. Atheists are being converted. Terrorists are being converted. Prostitutes are being converted. Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims are being converted because Israel got it wrong. Reinhard Bonnke is preaching to crowds of a half million or a million and seeing hundreds of thousands respond in a single meeting because Israel got it wrong. What happens when Israel gets it right? What happens when Israel gets it right? It means literally the kingdom of God on earth. Now look, I'm talking to you Gentiles. It's not a bad word here. I'm talking to you Gentiles, and as much as I'm the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? I like to look at it like this. Here's a big Texas evangelist. Gets to heaven kind of walking back and forth. Cowboy boots, cowboy hat. Comes up to a little Jewish believer. Hey, son, you know who I am? No, I really haven't met you. Reverend so-and-so, you know in my ministry I preached to more than 500,000 people face-to-face. I led more than 50,000 people to Jesus. I saw five people get out of wheelchairs. What you done, son? Well, I didn't really do a whole lot. See, I was involved in Jewish ministry, and it led to the return of the Messiah coming out of the graves of millions of people and the abolishing of death forever. It's the ultimate battleground. But listen, see, in my own spirit, for years and years and years and years, I knew that I knew it was part of my destiny to be right in the thick of revival in America and being used by God to train and equip leaders. And no orchestration, no plan of ours, God, boom, throws me so graciously right in the middle of this. And then it was a vision in my heart for years, but I never associated the two, that I'd be allowed by God to raise up a school that would have an impact on a generation. And boom, out of the blue, this whole thing happened. We're watching some of these dreams be fulfilled in front of our eyes. This is impossible what's happening. Come on, when you said when revival's here, this is it, get in on Father's Day. In your wildest dreams, did you picture 140 nations coming? People getting online at 6 in the morning? At the times of the greatest crowds of the revival during different times of the year, a rule had to be passed that no one could get online for the 7 o'clock service at night before 6 in the morning? Because people were going out from the service and camping out in the parking lot overnight, and then 2, 3, 4 in the morning getting back online? During spring break in times when you have these unbelievably huge crowds, bigger than ever? Who would have dreamed that? It's impossible, it's crazy. And yet it happened. Who would have believed the school would be born like this in 2 years of over 1,000 full-time students, less than 3 years of workers on their way to 15 nations? Who would have dreamed of it? Yet it's happening. And see, there are 2 other things that have been in my heart in years, a sense of destiny. We're going to see the glory of God in the nations, and I'm going to see Israel saved. Whatever role, whatever part, however the end-time scheme works its way out, I know the role that we get to play. It's just part of my genes. There's something in me. The fulfillment of the Great Commission, no matter how you slice the end-time cake, ultimately includes the ingrafting of Israel back to their own tree. The fullness of the Gentiles. This Gospel, the Kingdom being preached as a witness to all nations, and then the fullness of the Gentiles, and then all Israel will be saved. Robert Murray McShane, one of the godliest men who ever lived, you'll often hear Steve quote him, and I'll quote him. McShane believed revival came to his church in the 1830's in Scotland under the ministry of William Burns. It was filling his pulpit. William Chalmers Burns. He believes revival broke out because he with Bonar and some others was on a mission to what was then called Palestine. In fact, finding a mission and looking into Jewish evangelism and finding about the needs, because they were blessing Israel and praying for Israel. They believed. That's why God sent revival to their church. It got our attention early on about this revival. From the blowing of the shofar to some of the Jewish roots teaching that had come from one of the early leaders involved to the banner praying for Israel that there was a special place in the heart of this church to pray for Israel. I believe that's something, one of the things that God saw that caused them to look with favor. One of the things. Let me say a couple more things and I'm done just to encourage you. How do I know Israel will be saved? Well, we have the sure promises of God. I quoted some. Has the judgment been real? Yeah, it's been real. Has it been intense? Yeah, it's been intense. Has Israel suffered in a unique way differently than any other people? Yeah. Is God going to fulfill His Word to regather and save? Yeah. Just as real as the smiting was, that's how real the healing is going to be. Think of how glorious the healing is going to be. Think of how deep the repentance is going to be. Israel has not stumbled beyond the point of recovery. Even the New Jerusalem, it's not called the New Rome or the New Pensacola, or the New Tulsa, or the New Saul. It's called the New Jerusalem. And you know all the gates? All the gates have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Did you know that? Each of the gates, the names of the twelve tribes. And the foundations, the names of the twelve Jewish apostles. That's not going to end with those people as a nation cast away and forsaken and their names inscribed. Picture there on the names of the gates Judas Iscariot, Adolf Hitler. I mean, picture that. No, it's got the names of the twelve tribes because that's going to be especially a place for Israel. And see, as I've been around the world, what I've seen is the exact opposite of the history of anti-Semitism. And I'm going to close here. I've seen the exact opposite. We were in Kenya in 1989. We ran into a guy, and there he was with a big backpack on his back filled with tapes. His name was Shadrach. What's in your backpack? He meets me. I'm there with two other believers. We're all Jews. First time he's ever met a Jew in his life. And yet, all of his tapes in his backpack are why the church must pray for the salvation of the Jewish people. He said, it's my burden to get this to all Christians in Kenya. First time he'd ever met a Jew is when we were there. I was in India. My first trip. We went to someone's home. They were wealthier. They had running water in their home. It's a nicer home for the area where we were in India. Three out of the five of us that were there were Jewish on our team. The wife could not sleep all night because of her special guest. The husband greets us at the door and says, you are the second Jew to come to my home. The first was Jesus Christ. There I met people that had been fasting and praying for Israel for years and years and years and years. I ran into it around the world. I ran into a pastor in Italy. He says to me, there's not a single church service we have where we don't pray for Israel. He said, and there's not a single meal in my home where we don't pray for Israel. And there's not a single time I bow my knees in secret prayer that I don't pray for Israel. I didn't know he'd met any Jews before. I was at a prayer meeting in Korea one time with dear Korean brothers and sisters soaking the carpet with tears for Israel. And one young lady from Malaysia that had come from a tribal region in her early twenties, a believer, she was weeping and sobbing for Jews. And afterwards she said in broken English, we don't know much about the Jews, we just know we love them. Where did that come from? The Holy Spirit. I met rednecks that got saved and said I don't understand it, but the moment I got saved, I loved the Jews. That's a miracle. It's a miracle. I got word some years ago about a ministry in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Not the most populated city in the world. A city most of us never heard of. There were some missionaries there. With a special heart for Israel, there was an Israeli traveling, backpacking his way through Bolivia. Stops in Cochabamba. Meets these folks. They take him in their home. They're gracious hosts to him. They have a guest house. They start to share the Word with him and the Jewish roots of the faith and Messianic prophecy. He's deeply touched. He goes back to Israel and he sets up. He has a travel shop. He puts up a little card. If you're ever backpacking in Cochabamba, Bolivia, look these people up. Do you know in the next ten years more than 4,000 Israelis came through their house and heard the Gospel? See, God's doing something. God's doing something. And I just want to leave you this picture. Hear my appeal. Hear my appeal. As you have a heart for the Great Commission, don't forget Israel. Oh, don't go on some tour there and think you're going to save everybody when you go on some tour. Forget it. Israel's bracing itself now for the Jerusalem Syndrome in the year 2000. They're expecting up to 40,000 people to lose their minds and claim that they are the Messiah or the Antichrist or Elijah or something. They're bracing themselves. But if you can catch the bird, then pray, friend. If you can catch the bird, then intercede. If you can allow God to break His heart with the things that break your heart. And if you can be determined that you want to make Israel envious through the power of the Spirit, through life in the Messiah, through forgiveness of sins, it's time for Jewish harvest. More Jews are being saved now than any time since the first century. But the battle is great. I'll leave you with this picture. Eleven years ago, we were doing an outreach, a Jewish outreach in Cleveland. On a Friday night and a Saturday night, there was a Messianic Jewish group that ministered in music, and then I followed and preached. And the first night, we had almost no religious Jews there because it was the Sabbath, although I did talk to some very late until our feet got frozen cold. The next night though, because it was after Sabbath, a large group came and stood in the back, long beards and everything. Stood in the back. And I preached my message, began to minister to people, pray for people. They were just kind of watching. The service ended, and I knew this could be dangerous, but I had to do it. I went right in the middle of the crowd and started to talk to them. It got real intense. Face to face. They started challenging me. Come on, you're a Jew. Come back home. Come back to your people. What are you doing with these people? Come back. And it was after the Sabbath, they went outside, started lighting candles to have the service that they have after Sabbath. And there were police cars because it looked like there could be a riot started. Police cars pulled up. Now they're lighting these candles. I said to the police, it's okay, it's just a service. It's all right. Next thing, they started dancing in a circle. Dancing in a circle. They said, come on, you're a Jew. Join us. Dance with us. I said, all right. I got right in the circle. And I got in the middle of the circle, and I grabbed one of their guys and said, let's dance to God. And I was worn out. I had preached, I had ministered, but the supernatural energy hit me. And we started dancing, and they'd get worn out. I said, come on, where's your zeal for God? Come on. And another one would join in, and we'd start dancing, arming on. And then, you've got to understand, this is Jewish ministry, and I'm supposed to be this scholar who knows these things. So they start challenging me. What's the interpretation of this verse and this one? What did this rabbi say about this? When was this one born? And I'm giving them all the information, all the facts back. You know, we're having it out in the middle of this. Well, finally, the crowd disperses. And they start walking back and forth and repeating the Hebrew prayer. I believe in the coming of the Messiah. I believe in perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. And they start looking to the sky, crying this out, I believe in the coming of the Messiah. And I started yelling out, God, show them the Messiah. Here we are in the streets of Cleveland in front of a civic center. It used to be a synagogue. And they start raising their hands and saying, we want the real Messiah. I'm standing with my heart as a person. I said, God, show them the real Messiah! And they're yelling, God, only the real Messiah! And it was one of the most emotionally over-tearing experiences of my life. And I ask you as fellow laborers and fellow soldiers, I ask you to take this as a word from the Lord. I ask you to take this as one of the basics that must be restored to the church. And to join me in praying for the peace of Jerusalem and asking for God to have mercy on the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And believing that they, above all peoples, will be grafted back into their own tree. That we can see that glorious day when the kingdom of God will be established on the earth as Messiah's own people. Welcome them back. Amen? Would you just stand with me?