Good Morning ... and too, God be the Glory!

I greet you in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

And there is a Word from the LORD ...

So let us turn our hearts and our Bibles to the prophet Isaiah“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.” — Isaiah 1:2 ... chapter 1, beginning at verse 1. As we move through the sermon today we will also be visiting the Psalms ... chapter 2“Why do the nations rage? He who sits in the heavens laughs.” — Psalm 2:1,4 ... Second Chronicles ... chapter 7“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven.” — 2 Chronicles 7:14 ... and before we are done ... the Lord is going to carry us to Isaiah 40“They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.” — Isaiah 40:31. But we begin in Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken.” — Isaiah 1:2.

When you find it ... please say Amen.

Turn to your neighbor and say ... Neighbor —
“GOD IS NOT CONFUSED ABOUT THIS WAR. ARE YOU?”

You may be seated ...

Father ... the task of teaching Your Word is once again in my keeping.

I commit myself to do the very best that I can. Clear my mind of distractions. Warm my heart with compassion. Fill my soul with faith in Your goodness and power.

Speak to me ... that I may speak for You. Speak through me ... that I may speak to those who wait to hear Your unadulterated gospel.

Right now, Lord ... remove self. Remove pride. Increase in me and I decrease in You. Hide me behind Your cross.

Lord ... the world is shaking. Wars are being started. Bombs are dropping. Refugees are fleeing. People are hungry. And the men who claim Your name are spending billions on weapons while millions cannot eat. Your people need a Word that is bigger than what the news can give us.

So speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight. My Lord ... You are my strength and my Redeemer. This is my prayer. Amen.

I know it is Easter Sunday … and you came expecting lilies and hallelujahs and resurrection anthems. And we are going to get there — I promise you, we are going to get there. But before we get to the empty tomb ... we have to stop at Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.”. Because this Easter is not happening in a vacuum. It is happening in the middle of a war. Bombs are falling on this Holy Week. Children are dying on this Easter Sunday. And the God who raised Jesus from the dead ... has something to say about what is happening right now.

This is not going to be your typical Easter Day sermon.

Before I begin ... I need to say something.

This sermon did not start in a commentary. It did not start in a theological journal. It did not start with me watching the news.

This sermon started in a dream.

The Lord gave me Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.” in the night season. Not as a passage I was preparing. Not as a text I had assigned myself. But as a Word ... dropped into my spirit while I was sleeping. One of those moments where you do not just see the text ... you feel the weight of it. You feel the urgency. You feel God pressing something into you that He wants pressed into someone else.

And I want to be honest with you about what I did with it.

I ignored it.

For weeks I went about my life. I knew the dream was not just a dream. But I set it aside. Because Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken.” is not a comfortable word. And the people it speaks to ... are not always happy to hear it.

But the Lord is patient. And He is persistent. And He is not confused about what He wants said ... even when we are confused about whether we want to say it.

So one night ... I made a decision. I put an earbud in my ear. I opened the Bible app. I set it to Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.”. And I went to sleep ... listening to the Word of God play in my ear through the night.

I fell asleep to Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken.”.

And when I woke up ... I was in Isaiah 40“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God ... They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.”.

The Bible had been playing all night. And while I slept ... God carried me. From the conviction of chapter 1 ... all the way to the comfort of chapter 40. From “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me” ... all the way to “they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.”

That was not an accident. That was a sermon outline given to me in my sleep.

God was saying: start where I told you to start. Preach what I gave you in the dream. Let the people feel the weight of Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken.”. And trust that I will carry them to Isaiah 40“They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”. From the conviction ... to the comfort. From what is broken ... to what I am building.

So, this morning I want to talk to you about three things:

Point 1 — Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.”: The Vision. God Calls Heaven and Earth as Witnesses.

Point 2 — The Pattern and the Blueprint. History Teaches If We Will Listen.

Point 3 — Isaiah 40“They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”: Have You Not Known? Have You Not Heard?

And before we are done ... we are going to answer the question in the title.

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED ABOUT THIS WAR. ARE YOU?

Stay with me ...

Walk with me to verse 1.

The first word that matters is VISION. The Hebrew word is CHAZONחָזוֹןkhaw-ZONEHebrew — Strong’s H2377A divine vision; the highest category of prophetic revelation given directly from God to the prophet. Not a feeling. Not an impression. A direct disclosure from the throne room of God.▶ Hear It. Reserved for the highest category of divine communication in all of scripture. Not a feeling. Not an impression. Not a thought Isaiah had while studying. A direct, authoritative disclosure from the throne room of God. Isaiah did not choose this subject. God assigned it. And when God assigns a CHAZON ... the prophet does not soften it. He speaks what was given.

Now verse 2. And I need you to feel the weight of what is happening here ...

In the ancient world, when a king brought a formal charge against a vassal who had broken their covenant agreement, he called witnesses. And God — the King of all creation — is doing exactly that here. He is calling heaven and earth to stand as witnesses in a covenant lawsuit against His own people. Heaven ... you heard what I promised them. Earth ... you watched what they did instead. Both of you testify.

And the charge: “Children have I reared and brought up ... but they have REBELLED against me.”

The Hebrew word for rebelled is PASHAפָּשַעpaw-SHAHHebrew — Strong’s H6586To break away deliberately from rightful authority. To revolt. To willfully transgress against the One who raised you up. Not accidental drift. Deliberate rebellion.▶ Hear It. It does not mean they drifted unintentionally. PASHA means to break away deliberately from rightful authority. To revolt. To willfully transgress against the One who raised you up. God is not confused about the state of the nation. He does not need an intelligence briefing. He calls it by its name. PASHA. Deliberate rebellion.

Stay with me in the text. Verse 3 ...

This is the verse that hit me hardest when I woke up with the Bible still playing in my ear. The ox knows who feeds him. Every morning that animal walks to the same trough because he knows whose hand fills it. The donkey knows where home is. He knows whose voice to follow. But Israel — the people with the covenant and the temple and the scripture — does not know. Does not UNDERSTAND.

The Hebrew word is BINבִּיןbeneHebrew — Strong’s H0995To discern, to perceive, to connect what you believe to what you are doing. The deliberate act of connecting belief to behavior. God is not saying His people are uninformed. He is saying they are not connecting the dots.▶ Hear It — to discern, to perceive, to connect what you believe to what you are doing. God is not saying His people are uninformed. He is saying they are not connecting the dots. They have the Word but they are not applying it. They have the name of God but they are not seeking the face of God.

And I need to stop here and make a connection to right now. While we sit in this room, on Easter Sunday, on Resurrection Sunday ... there is a war happening. And while that war dominates the news ... another people — in Ukraine — are still being bombed. Buildings are still falling. Children are still being displaced. And the news cycle has moved on. The cameras left. But God did not leave. He has not stopped considering Ukraine just because we have. That is what BIN means. To consider. To not let the noise of one crisis make you stop thinking about the suffering God is still watching in another place.

Now verse 4. And this one lands harder than the previous three ...

“Utterly estranged.” The Hebrew is NAZORU ACHORנָזֹרוּ אָחוֹרnaw-ZOR-oo ah-KHORHebrew — Isaiah 1:4Turned away backward. Not just wandered. Turned their backs and walked the opposite direction. Their face is pointed away from God. And you cannot find God’s direction when your back is turned to Him.▶ Hear It — turned away backward. Not just wandered. Turned their backs and walked the opposite direction. They still have the religion. They still have the ritual. They still have the title. But their face is pointed away from God. And you cannot find God’s direction when your back is turned to Him.

With that foundation in the first four verses ... now let us walk into the passage where God puts the religious leadership on trial. Jump with me to verse 10.

God is not addressing the enemies of His people. He is addressing the LEADERS of His people. And He is calling them rulers of Sodom. Why Sodom? The prophet Ezekiel“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” — Ezekiel 16:49 tells us in chapter 16, verse 49. Sodom’s sin was pride, excess of food, prosperous ease — and they did not aid the poor and needy. Sodom had enough ... and kept it for itself. Power without compassion. Plenty without responsibility.

And then verse 15“When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” lands like a hammer:

The blood that accumulates when leaders convince themselves that their cause is God’s cause ... without ever submitting that cause to God.

I want you to know ... last week ... on Palm Sunday, March 29, 2026 ... the Pope of the Catholic Church — Pope Leo XIV — stood at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome before the whole world ... and quoted Isaiah 1:15“When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” directly to the leaders waging this war. He said: “God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.”

Now I am not Catholic. But I recognize a prophetic voice when I hear one. God is not confused. Even Rome knows it.

And if you want to see what Isaiah 1:15“When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” looks like in person ... look no further than the trial of Jesus. Pilate stood before the crowd. He examined Jesus himself — three times — and said: I find no fault in this man. But the crowd was loud. And Pilate ... afraid of the people more than the truth standing right in front of him ... took a basin of water. And washed his hands before the multitude. And said: “I am innocent of the blood of this just person.” — Matthew 27:24“So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”.

The basin did not clean him. The basin convicted him. Because you cannot wash away what you authorized.

And Isaiah 1:15“When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” was fulfilled ... even at the trial of the Son of God.

And here is where I need to pull in another scripture to make sure this lands. You may know it. First Samuel 15:22“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” — 1 Samuel 15:22. Samuel looked at Saul and said: “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” You can have all the ceremony in the world. All the public prayers. All the religious language. But if the obedience is not there ... God says I am not hearing your prayers.

Let’s go back to our text — because Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken.” picks up exactly where Samuel left off.

Now stay right there. Because that verse is being violated in real time. Right now. Today. The nations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on single military strikes while over 700 million people in the world go to bed hungry every night. The children made fatherless by those weapons ... are Isaiah 1:17“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” in the 21st century.

But now — come back to Isaiah“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” with me — because God does not end at the indictment. He never does. And verse 18 is the verse I want somebody in this room to hold onto today ...

“Come now, let us reason together.” The Hebrew is YAKACHיָכַחyaw-KAKHHebrew — Strong’s H3198To reason, to argue a case, to come into legal dialogue with God. This is not condemnation. This is an invitation. In the middle of all the blood and the failure and the sacrifice without surrender ... God opens a door. My terms. But the door is open.▶ Hear It — to reason, to argue a case, to come into legal dialogue with God. This is not condemnation. This is an invitation. In the middle of all the blood and the failure and the sacrifice without surrender ... God opens a door. My terms. But the door is open.

And verses 19 and 20“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” give us the only two outcomes. No third road. No middle ground. You cannot claim the name of God ... ignore the counsel of God ... and still expect the blessing of God to follow.

God is not confused about what is happening. The question ... is whether we are.

Walk with me now through the pages of history.

Everything happening in the world right now ... has happened before. The names change. The weapons change. The geography shifts. But the pattern never changes. And if we do not know the pattern ... we will keep watching it repeat and think it is something new.

It is not new. It is ancient.

And before we look at what is happening today ... I want to ask a question that is at the heart of everything Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken.” is saying. It is a simple question. Just three words.

Did they pray?

Did anyone in the room where these decisions are being made ... seek the face of God before they acted? Did anyone humble themselves the way Second Chronicles 7:14“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven.” requires? Did anyone spread the situation before the Lord the way Hezekiah spread that letter? Did anyone call a fast? Did anyone say Lord ... we do not know what to do ... our eyes are on You?

Because the answer to that question ... determines everything. And the Old Testament gives us a clear record of what happens when the answer is yes ... and what happens when the answer is no. Let me show you both sides of the ledger.

David — before every major battle — inquired of the Lord. Second Samuel 5:19“And David inquired of the Lord, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” — 2 Samuel 5:19. “Shall I go up?” He asked first. He did not assume God was on his side. He asked. And God answered. Because David understood something that bad leaders never learn: what God authorized yesterday does not automatically authorize today. Every new decision requires a new inquiry.

Solomon — when God appeared and said “Ask what I shall give you,” Solomon did not ask for power or the defeat of his enemies. First Kings 3:9“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil.” — 1 Kings 3:9 — he asked for a discerning heart to tell the difference between good and evil. Not military strength. A discerning heart. And God gave him the wisdom ... and everything else besides.

Jehoshaphat — when three armies surrounded Judah simultaneously, he did not call his generals first. He called the nation to prayer and fasting. Second Chronicles 20:12“O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” — 2 Chronicles 20:12 — in the assembly he prayed: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” Not I have a plan. Not I have an alliance. Not I have a deal. Not I have a strategy. Not I have a press conference. LORD ... my eyes are on YOU. And God said: the battle is not yours but God’s. Stand firm. And when Jehoshaphat sent singers before the army — praising the beauty of holiness — the enemies destroyed themselves. The battle was won before a single sword was drawn.

And I want you to notice something. Jehoshaphat did not go to the nations first. He did not call a meeting. He did not send envoys. He did not deploy troops. He did not raise the age limit to serve the country. He did not make a bilateral agreement. He did not call a summit. He called a FAST. Because Jehoshaphat understood what some leaders today have forgotten — that the God who holds the nations in His hand does not need your deal. He needs your dependence.

Hezekiah — when the enemy sent a mocking letter threatening God’s people, he took it to the temple and spread it before the Lord. Second Kings 19:14“Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.” — 2 Kings 19:14. Lord, You see this. You hear what they are saying about Your name. You handle it. And God sent one angel. One. And 185,000 enemy soldiers were dead by morning. Sennacherib“And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.” — 2 Kings 19:35 went home and never came back.

Four kings. Four examples. Same result every time. When the leader sought God first ... God moved. The pattern of the good kings is as consistent as gravity.

But now ... let me show you the other side of that ledger. Because the bad kings are just as consistent. And they are the ones that preach hardest to this moment.

Saul — First Samuel 13“You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God.” — 1 Samuel 13:13. The battle was pressing. The people were scattering. Samuel said wait for God’s prescribed order before you move. But Saul could not wait. He moved on his own timetable. He offered the sacrifice himself without authorization. And Samuel arrived and said: “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord.” Moving without God’s prescribed order always costs more than you planned to pay. It cost Saul the kingdom.

Rehoboam — First Kings 12“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” — 1 Kings 12:14. When he took the throne the wise counselors said: listen to the people and they will serve you. But Rehoboam rejected the wise and surrounded himself only with those who agreed with him. The kingdom divided. Not because of an enemy from the outside — because of arrogance from the inside. Leaders who only listen to yes-men always fracture what they were supposed to hold together.

Ahab — First Kings 16“And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel ... and went and served Baal and worshiped him.” — 1 Kings 16:31. He formed a political alliance God never authorized. And through that alliance ... the worship of Baal entered Israel through the front door of the palace. When you make covenants with those who do not serve the God of Israel ... their gods walk in through your front door with them.

Manasseh — Second Kings 21“Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other.” — 2 Kings 21:16. He shed so much innocent blood that it filled Jerusalem from one end to the other. And still carried the title of leader of God’s people. God keeps a record of innocent blood. Every drop.

And speaking of innocent blood ... the Prime Minister of Israel recently sat across a table with an American official and showed him a list. A list of leaders who have already been killed. A list of leaders who are next. And presented it as a scorecard. As progress. I want to ask the question that apparently nobody in that room asked: Did anyone open a Bible? Did anyone open the Torah? Did anyone say — Lord, is this Your direction?

And I want to ask one more question. Jerusalem is right there. The Western Wall — the Wailing Wall — is right there. That sacred place where the Jewish people have stood for centuries ... pressing their prayers and their petitions into the ancient stones ... believing that God hears from that place. Did anyone go there? Did anyone press this decision into that wall and say — God ... this is in Your hands? Did anyone stand at the holiest site in Judaism ... and actually seek the God of Judaism ... before they acted?

Because Matthew 10:28“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” — Matthew 10:28 says: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” These are men who fear man more than they fear God. They are not doing this because God directed it. They are doing this because they are afraid. Afraid of prosecution. Afraid of losing power. Afraid of what happens when the gavel falls and the courtroom calls their name.

History has seen this before. When leaders feel their power slipping ... they reach for tools designed not to govern ... but to stay. The poll tax in the American South was not about revenue. It was about control. A fee set at exactly the amount the poor could not afford to pay. Dressed in the language of civic order. But designed to keep certain people out of the room where power was decided. The spirit of staying in power at any cost is not new. And it is not of God.

The fear of man lays a SNARE. And when leaders operate from that fear ... they pull nations into the snare with them. That is what we are watching right now.

And I want to say one more thing about leaders who operate from fear rather than faith. Fear robs you of your rest. And a man who has lost his rest ... has lost more than sleep.

That is the promise for the man who trusts God. But the man who fears man ... cannot sleep. And the man who cannot sleep ... cannot think clearly. And the man who cannot think clearly ... sends things at 3 in the morning that a rested, praying, God-fearing leader would never send. He makes decisions in the dark that God never authorized in the light.

Fear always exposes itself.

And it is not just the kings. The pattern runs deeper than that. Let me take you to the book of Judges“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers.” — Judges 2:11. Because what the kings did in the monarchy ... the entire nation did in the period of the judges. And it became a cycle that repeated so consistently ... it reads like a blueprint for every broken culture in history.

Read Judges 2:11–19“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord ... whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge.” on your own time. But here is the summary in six steps: The people did evil in the sight of the Lord. Bondage came. They cried out. God raised up a deliverer. The land had rest. And then the deliverer died ... and they went back to evil. And the cycle began again.

Six steps. Over and over. For the entire period of the judges. The same disobedience. The same consequences. The same cry. The same deliverance. The same rest. The same return to evil.

And I need somebody to hear me: we are living in that cycle right now. A war with Iran that should not have happened — started without the nations, without NATO, without the humility that Second Chronicles 7:14“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven.” requires. That is Saul moving before Samuel arrived. That is the judges cycle. And the people always pay the price.

Now let me show you something that pulls all of this together. Because Solomon — the wisest man who ever lived — gave us a list. And this list is not a weapon to aim at someone else. It is a mirror. A mirror for every nation. Every leader. Every person sitting in this room.

Seven abominations. And I want you to notice — God says He HATES these things. Not dislikes. Not finds unfortunate. HATES. That is strong language from a God who is love. And every single one of these seven is on the front page of the news every single day.

Seven abominations. All seven on display every single day. And God hates all of them equally. Not just the ones being committed by our enemies. ALL of them. This mirror is for everyone. Including us. Including America.

In fact ... let us make sure America does not escape this mirror. Because America was founded on the pursuit of religious freedom. Men crossed an ocean to worship God without interference. And within one year of their arrival ... Africans were already being enslaved on the same soil. For 246 years. The same nation that said all men are created equal ... owned human beings. The same nation that opened its founding documents with “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” ... and then built its economy on unpaid labor. That is Isaiah 1:15“When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” in American history. Hands spread in worship. Full of blood.

But watch what God did. Those enslaved Africans prayed. For approximately 246 years in America ... they prayed in the fields, in the quarters, in chains, without being able to read the Bible in many states — it was against the law. And God heard. And God moved. And emancipation came. And revival came. And the Black church became one of the most powerful spiritual forces in the history of this nation — born not out of comfort but out of suffering and prayer. That is 2 Chronicles 7:14“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” in American history. When the people at the bottom humbled themselves and prayed ... God heard from heaven.

And America is not off the hook today. Isaiah 1:17“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” is still on the page: seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless. But here is what I need somebody to know — God does not need your military to bring peace. He never has. He proved that in Egypt.

He sent ten plagues on the most powerful empire of the ancient world ... with a staff and a shepherd. Read Exodus 7 through 12“Thus says the Lord, By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile.” — Exodus 7:17. Hail and fire mingled together. Darkness so thick it could be felt. Locusts that covered the face of the whole earth. Water turned to blood. He did not attack Egypt’s military — He dismantled their theology one plague at a time.

Joshua 10:11“And as they fled before Israel, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them ... there were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.” — Joshua 10:11 — God threw great hailstones from heaven and more enemies died from the weather than from the swords of Israel’s army. And Elijah prayed and it did not rain for three and a half years. He prayed again and the heavens gave rain. First Kings 18“And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.” — 1 Kings 18:41. God controls the weather. He can send rain so hard that no weapon flies. He does not need your F-35s.

And if you still think any nation is indispensable to God’s plan ... let me walk you through a graveyard. Because there is not one kingdom ... not one dynasty ... not one superpower in the history of this world that has lasted forever. Assyria fell in 612 BC. Babylon fell in 539 BC — one night, in the middle of Belshazzar’s party, while the handwriting appeared on the wall. Persia fell to Alexander the Great in 330 BC. Greece fell to Rome. Rome fell in 476 AD. The Byzantine Empire fell in 1453. The Ottoman Empire fell in 1922. The British Empire declined after World War II. The Soviet Union fell in 1991. Every kingdom eventually falls. Except one.

The Kingdom of God.

Daniel 2:21“He removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” — Daniel 2:21 — “He removes kings and sets up kings.” Daniel 4:17“The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” — Daniel 4:17 — “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Isaiah 40:23“He brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.” — Isaiah 40:23 — “He brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.” And Psalm 2:4“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” — Psalm 2:4 — “He who sits in the heavens laughs.” The Hebrew word is SACHAQשָּחַקsaw-KHAKHebrew — Psalm 2:4To laugh, to mock, to hold in derision. Not warm laughter. The laughter of sovereign certainty. The laughter of a God who sees the end from the beginning. Completely undisturbed by the plans of men who forgot to consult Him.▶ Hear It. Not warm laughter. The laughter of sovereign certainty. Completely undisturbed by the plans of men who forgot to consult Him.

And then Psalm 2:6“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” — Psalm 2:6 — the verse I need you to hold: “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

“AS FOR ME.”

In spite of all the raging. In spite of all the counsel taken without God. AS FOR ME ... I have set MY King. On MY holy hill. Not the board of peace. Not the strong man. MY King. And Psalm 2:12“Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” — Psalm 2:12 closes with: “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Not in the deal. Not in the military deterrent. In HIM. And that brings us to the blueprint that God gave His people long before any of this happened.

Second Chronicles 7:14 was written to Israel first. To Solomon’s Israel. On the day God appeared at the dedication of the Temple. And God said to His covenant people: “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Four conditions. Not a military strategy. Not a diplomatic initiative. Four conditions that release three promises. HUMBLE THEMSELVES — the Hebrew is KANAכָנַעkaw-NAWHebrew — Strong’s H3665To be brought low, to submit. The actual bending of the knee in genuine humility before God. Not the performance of humility. The real thing.▶ Hear It — to be brought low. The actual bending. Not the performance of humility. The real thing. PRAY — not a ceremony. The prayer of Jehoshaphat: we do not know what to do, our eyes are on You. SEEK MY FACE — not God’s hand, what He can do for you. His FACE — who He is, His specific will for this specific moment. And TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS — nobody wants to talk about this one. Because it requires admitting the ways were wicked.

Three promises when those four conditions are met: I will hear from heaven. I will forgive their sin. I will heal their land. Not before the conditions. THEN.

And through Jesus Christ, this promise is now for ALL who are called by His name. Galatians 3:29“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” — Galatians 3:29 — “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” The whole church. Every tribe, tongue, and nation. IF MY PEOPLE ... that is us. Right now. In this moment. The world needs revival. Not a board of peace. Not a bilateral agreement. REVIVAL. The kind that comes when MY people ... called by MY name ... meet the four conditions that release the three promises.

And the great supper in Luke 14“And the servant said, Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room. And the master said to the servant, Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.” — Luke 14:22–23 tells us the table is still being prepared. Jesus said a man made a great banquet and the invited guests all made excuses. So the master said: go to the highways and hedges — “compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” The table is still set. The invitation is still open. God is still compelling people to come in. But MY people have to stop making excuses ... and seek His face.

I need to stop here for a moment ...

Because I know somebody in this room came today carrying something heavy. The weight of the news. The weight of the world. The weight of watching things happen that you cannot fix and cannot stop and cannot explain to your children. And you have been doing what David did in Psalm 56:8“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” — Psalm 56:8 — you have been collecting your tears in a bottle. You have been weeping.

And I came to tell you ... the weeping is not wasted.

We are not in the morning yet. Some of us are still in the night. The bombs are still falling. The hungry are still hungry. The nations are still raging. And it feels like a very long night.

But I need you to hear what the psalmist said. He did not say the weeping lasts forever. He said it tarries FOR THE NIGHT. It has a time limit. The night has an end. The morning is coming. And when the morning comes ... JOY comes WITH it. Not after another deal. Not after another election. JOY comes WITH the morning.

And I fell asleep in Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.” ... in the night season ... under the weight of conviction ...

And I woke up in Isaiah 40“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” — Isaiah 40:1. In the morning. And the first words God had playing in my ear were: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”

That is the God we serve. He does not leave you in chapter 1. He carries you to chapter 40. He does not leave you in the night. He walks you into the morning. He does not leave you in the weeping. He brings you into the joy.

And that is why I can stand here and close this sermon the way I am about to close it ...

Because I came today to tell somebody ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED ABOUT THIS WAR. ARE YOU?

I need to come back to the dream.

I fell asleep to Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.”. The indictment. The covenant lawsuit. The ox that knows more than the nation. The hands full of blood. The sacrifice God is not accepting. And God kept the Word playing in my ear all night. All the way through the warnings and the woes. And then I woke up in chapter 40.

Isaiah 40“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” — Isaiah 40:1 begins with two words that are the hinge of the entire book: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” The first 39 chapters — conviction, judgment, warning. Chapter 40 through 66 — comfort, redemption, promise. God put me to sleep in the judgment ... and woke me up in the comfort. And now He wants to do the same for you.

“HAVE YOU NOT KNOWN?” The Hebrew word is YADAיָדַעyaw-DAHHebrew — Strong’s H3045To know by experience. By relationship. Not intellectual knowledge about God. Experiential knowledge OF God. The kind that comes from walking with Him through the hard seasons. God is saying: you have been through enough with Me to know who I am. You KNOW this. Do not let the pressure of the moment make you forget what you know.▶ Hear It — to know by experience. By relationship. Not intellectual knowledge about God. Experiential knowledge OF God. The kind that comes from walking with Him through the hard seasons. God is saying: you have been through enough with Me to know who I am. You KNOW this. Do not let the pressure of the moment make you forget what you know.

“HAVE YOU NOT HEARD?” The Hebrew is SHAMAשָמַעshaw-MAHHebrew — Strong’s H8085To hear with full understanding. To receive and process what has been spoken. You have heard the stories. The Red Sea. The manna in the wilderness. The walls of Jericho. The fourth man in the fire. The resurrection. You HEARD. Do not let the noise of the world drown out what you have heard.▶ Hear It — to hear with full understanding. To receive and process what has been spoken. You have heard the stories. The Red Sea. The manna in the wilderness. The walls of Jericho. The fourth man in the fire. The resurrection. You HEARD. Do not let the noise of the world drown out what you have heard.

And then God answers His own questions. Four declarations. Listen to each one carefully ...

WAIT. The Hebrew is QAVAHקָוָהkaw-VAWHebrew — Strong’s H6960To wait with expectant hope, to stretch toward what is coming. Not passive sitting. QAVAH means to bind together like a cord ... to stretch toward ... to expect with confident anticipation. Active waiting. Intentional waiting.▶ Hear It — not passive sitting. QAVAH means to bind together like a cord ... to stretch toward ... to expect with confident anticipation. Active waiting. Intentional waiting. The waiting of a person who is fully engaged with God while God is fully engaged with the situation.

“Shall RENEW their strength.” The Hebrew is CHALAPHחָלַףkhaw-LAFHebrew — Strong’s H2498To pass through, to emerge from something different than you went in. You do not renew without going through. You do not get wings without going through the valley where you needed wings.▶ Hear It — to pass through, to emerge from something different than you went in. You do not renew without going through. You do not get wings without going through the valley where you needed wings. You do not run without fainting unless you first went through the season when you could barely walk.

“They shall mount up with wings like eagles.” Eagles do not flap their wings to climb. They find the thermal — the current of air that is already rising — and they ride it. The people of God who wait on the Lord ... catch the current of the Holy Spirit ... and rise on something that is not their own strength.

“They shall RUN and not be weary. They shall WALK and not faint.” This is supernatural endurance. It does not come from strategy or alliance or a peace deal. It comes from one place: Waiting on the Lord.

I need to close this out ...

Because I came today with a question in the title. And I need to answer it before I sit down.

The question was ... God is not confused about what is happening ...

ARE YOU?

Well ... let me tell you what I know.

I know that the nations are raging ...

I know that the kings are taking counsel without God ...

I know that the bombs are falling ...

I know that the people are hungry ...

I know that the church has been quiet ... when it should have been loud ...

But I came to tell somebody today ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

That is why He sent JESUS ... Not a diplomat. Not a general. Not a deal-maker. Not a king with an army ... He sent a SAVIOR ... And every leader ... in every generation ... who has spread their hands in prayer and washed their hands of responsibility ... while the order was already given and the soldiers were already moving ... Pilate“So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” — Matthew 27:24 is their mirror.

But Easter tells us ... God is not fooled by clean hands that gave unclean orders.

And they took that Savior ...

And they hung Him HIGH ... And they stretched Him WIDE ...

His hands were nailed to a cross He did not deserve ...

His feet were pierced for ground He already owned ...

A crown of thorns on the head that holds the universe together ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

And He bowed His head ... And He said ... IT IS FINISHED ... And He died ...

They rolled a stone across the door ... They put a Roman seal on it ... They stationed soldiers outside ...

They said ... THAT is the end of THAT ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

Because early ... on the third day morning ... Before the sun came up ... Before the soldiers woke up ... Before the news cycle could spin the story ...

HE GOT UP.

Death could not hold Him ... The grave could not keep Him ... The stone could not stop Him ... The seal could not contain Him ... The soldiers could not guard Him ...

HE GOT UP. And He is alive RIGHT NOW ... Seated at the right hand of the Father ... Making intercession ... FOR YOU ...

And THAT is why ... after all the kings ... after all the empires ... after the kill lists and the bombs and the wars that should not have happened ...

No man who feared a courtroom has ever successfully outrun the judgment of God. Not one. In all of history. NOT ONE.

Ask Pharaoh ... who feared losing his workforce more than he feared God ... and watched his army drown in the Red Sea“So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; not one of them remained.” — Exodus 14:27–28 ...

NOT ONE.

Ask Nebuchadnezzar ... who called himself the greatest king on earth ... and spent seven years eating grass in a field like an animal until he learned that the Most High rules the kingdom of men ... Daniel 4:33“Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox.” — Daniel 4:33 ...

NOT ONE.

Ask Belshazzar ... who threw a party with the vessels stolen from God’s temple ... and saw a hand appear on the wall that night ... and was dead before morning ... Daniel 5:30“That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.” — Daniel 5:30 ...

NOT ONE.

Ask Herod ... who killed James and imprisoned Peter to maintain his popularity ... and Acts 12:23“Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.” — Acts 12:23 says the angel of the Lord struck him and he was eaten by worms ...

NOT ONE.

Ask the Roman Empire ...

Ask the British Empire ...

Ask the Soviet Union ...

NOT ONE. In ALL of history. NOT ONE has outrun the judgment of God.

But I will tell you who we CAN ask ...

Ask JOSHUA.

Joshua saw the Red Sea“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” — Exodus 14:21–22.

Joshua walked around Jericho.

Joshua watched walls fall that no army could have knocked down.

Joshua watched God throw hailstones from heaven and more enemies died from the weather than from the sword. Joshua 10:11“And as they fled before Israel, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them ... there were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.” — Joshua 10:11

Joshua had SEEN what God could do. Joshua had walked with this God for a lifetime.

And at the end of his life ... He gathered all of Israel together ... And he looked at them ... And he said ...

Joshua was not confused. He had been through too much with God to be confused.

And I came today to tell somebody ...

After Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.” ... After the pattern of kings ... After the cross ... After the empty tomb ... After every name of God ...

You have been through too much with God ... To still be confused about who He is.

CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY.

As for me and my house ...

WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.

He is JEHOVAH JIREH ... my Provider ... He has never run out of resources ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is JEHOVAH NISSI ... my Banner ... my Victory ... He has never lost a battle ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is JEHOVAH RAPHA ... my Healer ... what the nations have broken He can still restore ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is JEHOVAH SHALOM ... my Peace ... not the board of peace ... not the deal of peace ... but the GOD of peace ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is JEHOVAH SHAMMAH ... the God who is THERE ... in the rubble ... in the refugee camp ... in the place where nobody else will go ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is JEHOVAH ROHI ... my Shepherd ... He knows where every lost sheep is right now ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is EL ELYON ... the Most High God ... higher than the highest military rank ... higher than the highest political office ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is EL SHADDAI ... God Almighty ... when the world says there is not enough ... EL SHADDAI says I AM ENOUGH ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is the LILY OF THE VALLEY ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is the BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is the ROSE OF SHARON ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is the WAY ... when there seems to be no way ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is the TRUTH ... when everything around you is a lie ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is the LIFE ... when death seems to be winning ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He is the PRINCE OF PEACE ...

And Isaiah 9:6“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” — Isaiah 9:6 says the government shall be upon HIS shoulder ...

And Isaiah 9:7“Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” — Isaiah 9:7 says of the increase of His government and peace ... there shall be NO END ...

GOD IS NOT CONFUSED.

He was not confused in Egypt ...

He was not confused at the Red Sea“The Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; not one of them remained.” — Exodus 14:27–28 ...

He was not confused in Babylon ...

He was not confused at the cross ...

He was not confused at the tomb ...

And He is NOT confused ... right now.

I fell asleep in Isaiah 1“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.” ...

And I woke up in Isaiah 40“They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” ...

And God carried me from the conviction ... to the comfort ...

From the weight ... to the wings ...

And THEY THAT WAIT upon the Lord ...

SHALL RENEW their strength ...

They shall MOUNT UP with wings as EAGLES ...

They shall RUN ... and not be weary ...

They shall WALK ... and not faint ...

BECAUSE GOD ...

IS NOT ...

CONFUSED.

(Repeat — slow, full weight, every word lands)

Every head bowed ... every eye closed ...

If you have been carrying the weight of what is happening in the world ... feeling helpless ... wondering whether anyone in power is listening to God ... and you want to make the commitment today to be a Second Chronicles 7:14“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” person in a Psalm 2“Why do the nations rage? He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” world — humble, prayerful, seeking His face, turning from whatever has separated you from His full presence — I want you to slip your hand up right where you are.

And if you have never given your life to Jesus Christ ... I want you to know that the Prince of Peace has already done what no board of peace ever could. He went to a cross. He bore the weight of every sin, every act of injustice, every drop of innocent blood, every decision ever made without God. He bore it all. And He rose. And He is alive. And He offers the only peace that the world cannot manufacture and cannot destroy.

If that is you today ... come. The doors of the Kingdom are open. The Prince of Peace is waiting. Come down this aisle ... give me your hand ... and give God your heart.

Before you go ...

One assignment. Go home and pray the prayer of Jehoshaphat:

That prayer moves heaven. Every single time.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

C3PT Kingdom Culture Ministries

Rev. Kelvin L. Parks, M.A.

Expository Preacher & Bible Teacher

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