Book of Obadiah

[Music] [Music] [Music] good morning I am so excited to introduce to you not somebody you've not known in the in the past but someone that you have Charles Cole has been one of our global partners with his wife Beverly for over 30 years working in Jordan and before that in France he's no stranger to arcade he's been like I said with us for many many many years but he's our speaker this morning and you're going to be blessed and so would you give him a great big round of applause as we welcome Charles to our podium this morning all right thank you thank you can you hear me oh good it is a pleasure to be here actually I came to know the Lord it's really through an arcade ministry as a 17-year old student at Jesuit high school a long long time ago so this place is very dear to me and it's been a pleasure to have you with us we always like to really thank you when we stand here because it's your faithfulness that has allowed us to minister in France and then Jordan for the past years through close to 34 years we've been ministering among Arab peoples with some people's so your your faithfulness is is so appreciated we always people always come up to us and they say well how have you been out here so long and actually the only explanation I have is that people are praying for us and honestly people always coming up say we've been praying for you and that's made a huge difference we've raised four kids in Jordan actually one my son Justin and my only granddaughter is attending arcade they're not here this Sunday but we thank the Lord for arcade thank you thank you thank you thank you so we appreciate it we actually have been in Jordan and we're home now on sabbatical we've had a little bit of problems with the government which is normal we're a 98% Muslim country and while our political relationship is closed we do sometimes have difficulties there's a picture up there we had a lot in the last January we were told we probably wouldn't be able to return and we had a lot of going-away parties and these are my brothers and sisters actually we always like to say we joined a tribe when we came to Jordan actually you guys were in Malawi welcomed by a tribe we so thank the Lord for these people welcomed us we got involved this is a school that we've been involved in supporting that actually our oldest kids attended it's a Nazarene school in a poor part of Amman Jordan and they presented us with traditional garb before we left on the right is pastor shadi and actually Shetty and salmon on the left are both from southern Jordan they're either mites or Moabites the lines kind of unclear so as we talk today about about Obadiah we're talking about the descendants of people who actually live in a part of the land that still exists so we've been in Jordan working with a lot of different things we came we started working with different groups Jordan has 2.7 million refugees today but Jordan and a country of about five six million people it's hard to count they say 2.6 2.7 million refugees actually more than that because when Israel was established in 1948 many many Palestinians actually ended up coming to Jordan and then once again in 1967 many many had to flee and ended up in Jordan so we are a refugee country and so we've gotten involved in different groups there's a couple more pictures there this is a group of people very dear to us these are Syrian refugees from near Nineveh you talked about Jonah where he went to preach to those dark Forgotten people well God established a church there and these are Iraqi Christians who four years ago most of them fled barely with their lives 2000 year Christian heritage many of them speak Aramaic as their mother tongue that means they speak the language of Jesus and all of it was lost in a couple of days when the Kurdish army retreated no support from the Americans who were supposed to be helping and they fled with their lives and a lot of them 30,000 ended up in Jordan we've helped schools get established to help them learn English and the amazing thing about these refugees and as we look at Obadiah I want to remind us that that sometimes a destruction of a civilization God uses and it's a horrible thing but many of these people that came from from Nineveh near there they say we've lost everything but we really found Jesus they were proud Christians who didn't really know that Jesus before the other groups we've worked with as my wife's been very active working with traffic women the women that basically exist in a form of slavery they come to Jordan to get jobs and then find that they're abused they flee they end up in a safe house and still to this day as God provides we provide a meal every week to over a hundred women and a gospel message many of them come to know Jesus actually 30 percent of these women are Muslim and yet they're hungry for for the Word of God and you know God has such a word for refugee as this young couple shared he loves the refugees and he was a refugee in Egypt so Jesus understands so much the Statue of reference situation of refugees so many so these are some of the groups we've had delighted to work with the other are these are actually the wives and daughters and sisters of Isis fighters mostly there's sunny Syrians and they fled into Jordan I think probably two-thirds of the refugee population these people and their many are so open to Jesus many of our little churches were less than 2% Christian in Jordan and I always like to say I'm so proud of what our little churches have done to receive them and help them so basically if you were to take all the Christians that arcade and double them that's how many really evangelical Christians we have in the whole country of Jordan and yet every little Church has been mobilized to help these refugees has made a huge difference and most of these women are hearing about Jesus receiving love in some practical way of Jesus and and some will end up in Sacramento and we can continue that process of showing them who Jesus is so - this morning we're gonna talk about the book Obadiah and I was thrilled actually Craig gave me the option pastor Craig of of talking about a prophet and of course Obadiah is about Petra have any of you been to Petra the Edomite capital of was most likely Petra and it's a beautiful city built in the crags of cliffs if you have your little map here you can look it's the southern part actually I've ministered and worked up near where it says Amman that's the ammonite capital historically Moab was under that and then Edom was actually further south there and right there I think it's there you can see Petra mount and Mount Nebo so this is actually the people that right now even there's a ministry going along there there's very very very few Christians but Obadiah was called to prophesy to them about their destruction now I don't know about you but I was raised in a nice Christian Church I went to a Catholic school and nobody ever told me that the world was gonna end until I arrived at our Cade is a 17 year old and suddenly you know the late great planet Earth in the 70s that was you know that was the most read book in the english-speaking world did any of you ever read it the late great planet Earth it was a scary book it scared the bejeebers out of you you know you better accept Jesus now because the whole world's gonna end and there's a sense of which we evangelicals have been guilty of Kath catastrophizing things we're always focusing on the eventual destruction actually I was at the libraries looking at my Bible and reading Obadiah down on what Avenue and looked up on the shelf and there was a book like a kids book it was called apocalypse bow-wow and it was written and actually it I think you have a little quote from and it was is basically a funny action-packed and now my dogs know how to survive the apocalypse I mean you know Left Behind series it just seems like we are obsessed with the end times and we in Sacramento were we were in the middle of three Air Force bases Central and I don't know if any of you grew up with bomb shelters in your basement did any of you grew up we had a bomb shelter actually yeah there's probably a door somewhere if you lift up you may go down there and find one because a lot of houses in the 60s were built with those and ours actually turned it was kind of a wine cellar and it was fun on Halloween we'd turn it into a haunted house and but this this is you know we've lived as a society in a state of understanding that everything could come to an end real soon and ironically that we never got any Russian bombs here instead the Lord brought all these wonderful Russian believers isn't that amazing God's got his work yeah let's give them a hand we're so thankful for the refugees the Lord sends to us that eventually become just a blessing to our town in our churches so we we see this it's it's very much in our human DNA to fear the end of the world defend the to fear and apocalyptic ending and I don't know how many movies are made there's probably three in the theater today about some and destruction global warming is going to destroy us fires are going to gonna destroy us and and without catastrophizing you know we're all gonna die we will be ultimately not on this planet and our civilization is fragile and it's transmits its transforming and and I sometimes I get as I get older I sit around with people and and people get into this dark gloomy the world's gonna end phase well this is it's in our DNA and I think we can avoid it but we need to confront it and actually when obadiah's the book Obadiah is a judgment on a people and I think as we read these judgments which are really a large part of the Bible there's a lot of apocalyptical literature and the Bible in the Old and New Testament we can it puts us in a good place now some of us need to be careful actually as a 17 year old I was a pretty good student at Jesuit High School and suddenly the world was gonna end I was going to all these meetings and we got a prayer get out and preach Jesus I went to UC Davis and my mom's here today and she knows and I I forgive me mom but I went from being on the Dean's List of being on academic probation in about about three quarters back then and and because the world was gonna end right and I think that was a wrong response and I I do think God used that the sense of the eminence of God could come and bring judgment at any moment actually my son was in Santa Barbara and he's in a small group and was going to school with a lot of kids who were caught in that mudslide one of his friends actually was carried one mile thirty people died in Montecito California one of the wealthiest most exclusive areas of California one of his friends father was killed and he was carried one mile and lived it could happen to anybody at any time there is a sense of which we need to see the eminence of God our time on this earth is is numbered and our days are numbered so let's look at the book of Obadiah Obadiah means servant of God and actually in Arabic our King we saw a picture of our King Abdullah servant of God same name Obadiah Hebrew Obadiah sometimes they say in an Arabic and the Palestinians name their kids over dead Allah but oh but oh but Abdullah a very common name the arab arab world and then the whole Muslim world servant of God is around 600 years before Christ he was most likely an Edomite himself and he was called to warn these people based there in what southern Jordan now in the Edomite area of a coming destruction before he read it I wanted to make a couple of notes there the were considered the descendants of who who were they descendants of of Esau Esau was the firstborn of Jacob ISA was of the firstborn and he his brother Jacob was came after him and they had this rivalry intense rivalry because Jacob actually stole the birthright to ASA for a bowl of soup if you remember the story and it just seems like there is constantly a conflict actually interestingly enough they actually there's moments of real reconciliation you see in the story but throughout the Bible we have the sibling conflicts all over the Bible Joseph and his brothers that sold them into slavery Ishmael and Isaac Ishmael they that when born to a maiden and Sarah that bore Isaac that the child shall the promise of Abraham and you have these these rival reason even to this day you know these sibling rivalries they can destroy us they can destroy our homes they the Islam is marked by Sunni Shiite divide which is based on just a horrible story of what happened to Muhammad's family and how everything just self-destruct and it still wars are being fought over these family rivalries so as we look at at this story at this judgment we see the this Esau and Jacob Jacob being the father of course the father of Israel the Israelite people and Esau the father of the and what I wanted to say before we read it is Jesus kind of hates these rivalries you know at one time in Luke chapter 12 Jesus was preaching and he made this great statement Luke 12 verse 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say he was teaching on Holy Spirit and one guy screams out man who appointed me he preached out teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me he was trying to get Jesus into his family squabble about who should get more of what and very interesting Jesus said that's not his job in fact Jesus came to bring all people to himself he actually profoundly ignored all these deep conflicts that's one of the rat and most radical things is when he talks about Samaritans they're supposed to hate Samaritan Jesus ignored that difference so we see just such a transformation from the sort of judgments proclaimed in Obadiah where people are being judged based on a sibling rivalry to Jesus who actually calls out for the children of Jacob and the children of Esau to come to him in repentance but let's read this this whole book this is the shortest book in the in the Old Testament so we can all read it together I think we have the this we can put this on the screen let's read it together let's stand for the reading of God's Word the vision of Obadiah thus says the Lord God concerning Edom we have heard a report from the Lord and a messenger has been sent among the nations rise up let us rise up against her for battle behold I will make you small among the nations you shall be utterly despised the pride of your heart has deceived you you live in the cleft of the rock and your lofty dwelling who say in your heart who will bring me down to the ground though you soar aloft like the evil evil eagle though your nest is set among the stars from there I will bring you down declares the Lord if thieves came to you if plunders came by night how you have been destroyed would they not steal only enough for themselves if great gathers came to you would they not leave gleanings how Esau has been pillaged his treasures sought out all your allies have driven you to your border those at peace with you of deceive you they have prevailed against you those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you you have no understanding will I not on that day declares the Lord destroy the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of mount Esau and you mighty man shall be dismayed o to man so that every man from out Esau will be cut off by slaughter because of the violence done to your brother Jacob Shane shall cut you and you sow cut off forever on the day that you stood aloof on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem you were like one of them but do not gloat over the day of your brother and the day of his misfortune do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin do not boast in the day of distress do not enter the gate of my people and the day of their calamity do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity do not loot as wealth in the day of his calamity do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress for the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations as you have done it shall be done to you your deeds shall return on your own head for as you have drunk on my holy mountain so all the nations shall drink continually they shall drink and swallow and shall be as though they had never been but in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape and it shall be holy and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions the house of Jacob shall be a fire in the house of Joseph of flame the house of Esau stubbl they shall burn them and consume them and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau for the Lord has spoken those of the Negev shall possess mount Esau and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria and Benjamin shall possess Gilead the Exile zuv the host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the canaanites as far as xerath and the exiles of Jerusalem who were in Safari shall possess the cities of the Negev Saviour shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau and the kingdom shall be the lords amen you may be seated one of the one of the most important things to note is that this whole thing drives us whole book drives to this reality that we are that the Lord's it shall be the Lord's Kingdom that reigns and I think that's where we are the deliverer will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Issa and the kingdom will be the lord's how do we prepare ourselves for a crisis and what's coming ahead one of the most important things you can see in this book is how important humility is the nation's got proud how proud that the nation of Edom gets it it's an amazing place actually if you come as a Petro we're gonna actually Craig and Debby Harding are asked if we would help lead a team and I may not be able to go into Jordan with you but next year we hope to be going in and you can actually see the amazing city Petra was is there a picture of Petra there there's a foretaste it's in Raiders of the Lost Ark it's a city built up above about the over the where the Dead Sea is and it was carved out by water going to the lowest point on earth and unlike a lot of seas like Jerusalem they relied on a wall this was a city built to be defended little caverns little corners and mountains that people could put their homes in allowed them a fortress and it also allowed them to be a strategic caravan trading place where camels would come from the east boats would come along the shores drop their things at what is now a lot or Aqaba and then those things would come up too to Petra and they'd be exchanged for things that would go to all the way to Europe actually in the first century the Nabataeans were amazing they were trading and wine from from Petra all the way to Europe but in the 6th century BC it was primarily spices and they were going to Holy Land Egypt and Greece whenever I have had groups come and visit Petra I like to read this as we go down into Petra because one of the things that's important to note is how these civilizations come to not you know civilizations are very very fragile I look at Sacramento and we have some wonderful things happening and right on the edge we have a massive homeless population and there's a sense of collapse if you've ever been to East Los Angeles you can actually see what looks like an Armageddon hit shopping cart city where there's very little law and order and it looks like things have collapsed actually I had a refugee friend from Iraq who fled with her life from Iraq she became a Christian had to flee she's up in Seattle now and she's still amazed at stop signs to see these homeless people how can this wealthy country have you know these people who just are just in a state of collapse and you know that have to beg and she says I feel so sorry for him and you know in Iraq people like that their family would take care of them their tribe would take care of them but lest we think our civilization is strong and and we're great and and there are wonderful things I am an American I thank God for that I was born here and had the privilege of having an American passport but God help us with our pride you know one of the things we've seen in the Middle East is all of these fancy Wars and we've been in the middle of them and they they brought nothing of what we had hoped we'd bring a new peace in the Middle East all these things have brought nothing and and I actually one of the things my wife and I have done we pastored churches we've actually been involved in in releasing an Arab mission to plant churches but our on one of the churches that just kind of have was an english-speaking fellowship in Amman Jordan which has about 150 people now and another full-time pastor but that church has many military US military and CIA and others attend attend that church and and I there's one guy named Baba I used to eat come up after service and I started praying for him and you know what most of our genius most brilliant military strategists whatever they're just going pray for me we don't know what to do we don't know we don't know what's happening in Syria pray for me this is for 15 years I've been praying for people like that big leaders in the UN we think well you know you look on television there's if someone's got some strategy to fix everything they won't work God is somehow about bringing humility to proud nations like our own even and I think it's very interesting in Obadiah how we see that that other nations are told don't don't delight in the destruction don't delight in the prawns and I think I don't delight in what I see which seems probably wasteful of taxpayer money Wars that turn out all wrong you know we basically handed Iraq to the Iranians I mean totally not anything anyone want want to have happened but God has been in charge in and then we have these Christians that had to flee everything we were supposed to protect the Christians right America wouldn't and that something we should have been doing it's all gone to not God is in charge and he is in charge of even when there's destruction and a collapses of civilization like we've seen all around us and Jordan so many times God has brought refugees in and so many as say things like we lost everything but we found Jesus and I think Americans we have to say that as well much of our civilization is undergoing a huge transition and there's a there's a nice part all civilized and there's a dark belly and and I don't know if you have people in your family that have been taken apart by mental illness drugs opiate addiction all of this is happening right in front of us and there's a sense in which we are faced with our own destruction our own limit and we need to humble ourselves before the Lord we need to humble ourselves before the Lord we one of the things I'm thankful for you know as a pastor in Jordan once a while we did a little earthquake or something you know we had actually if you look at these ancient seas a lot of them are destroyed by earthquakes but we get an earthquake and I'd start getting calls from people in our church what's happening is this the end of the world is this the this is you know um I think it really helps us to realize we are facing disaster every single day God could take us at any moment there's an eminence and and I think a lot of the world doesn't expect it Dericks I have a friend actually who was working with these millennialist he's not even a Christian but he was helping them build fortresses up in the mountains before the year 2000 you know a lot of people thought all the computers were gonna go down the world was gonna collapse do you remember that anybody well there were people who'd spent a lot of time preparing for that and and he was laughing about it cuz he was helping him build fortresses up in the foothills and here and there you know that's not the strategy brothers and sisters I'll tell you why this is why it just flat won't work one you have a stocked house full of food and the whole world collapses and your neighbor comes knocking on the door says I need some food are you gonna say go away really is is that the kind of Christian we live it doesn't work like that we can't build fortresses the we we have to prepare ourselves we expect disaster but our response to disaster is to cry out to Jesus remember you know the great missionary verse Matthew 28:18 2:20 go to all the world I am with you I am with you that's our confidence our confidence is not in our planning our confidence is not in in our worldly strength he will be with us that means when the lady calls me and it calls you if there's an earthquake Dan you can say let's pray God is with us he is with us he'll be with us no matter what happens if a meteorite hits planet Earth and everything goes into flame he is with us doesn't surprise him and we actually live with the the barebone knowledge that this isn't the only life we have to live we are his servants here for a time but there's an eternity and actually our behavior even during times of crisis is can really make a difference so our job in this time is to remind that be reminded God is with us and and not to show pride you know one of the things I'm so important in the Bible is you know we're saved by grace let lest anyone should boast there's nothing we can boast about don't if some of you feel pretty proud to be an American that's fine be proud of Jesus like Paul said Paul the Apostle Paul had the the best educational degrees is from the best lineage to be a great person and great rabbi but he counted it all garbage for the sake of all in Christ because really that is all that matters humble yourselves and humble yourselves in the sight of Lord and He will lift you up and this is our goal that we would walk closely with him through whatever crisis personal civilization crisis he will be with us and remembering everything that people are the most important thing it's actually how we behave in crisis that matters the most it's whether we walk with Him or we freak out and we may freak out for a little while and then walk with Him you know as an afterthought yeah Jesus I wasn't really trusting you that happens a lot to me but God is looking for an excuse to use you in the middle of whatever crisis we face I was actually tell you a couple of stories there's a guy in Jordan our heat comes from diesel fuel and we have to have a guy come fill our diesel tank that our boiler runs on or for the very poor people they sit in front of a little kerosene heaters but weird thankfully we're able to afford some diesel so the guy comes in they kind of most of a ripoff artist they're meters aren't working right it's like a thousand dollars to get that tank filled and it goes like this because the buildings aren't insulated so you got a you got to keep trying the heat down and turn it off at night but Jamal I decided I was gonna make peace with it Jamal is gonna be my diesel guy and so Jamal comes big guy tall with the big beard scary-looking honestly Annie gave me an Islamic calendar one year you know to put on my wall and always preaching Islam to me but one day Jamal came and he just looked really sad and I said Jamal usually came with another guy he said I said well what's what's wrong Dave Allen he says my son died and he said I said well what happened he said well he committed suicide he's gone straight to hell and I said Jamal I am so sorry I didn't know what to say and you know in moments like that actually it's very clear what you gotta do you just got to pray with people what do you do but can you give them you humble yourself before him and the Lord and and just say I asked him al I mean will you let me pray with you and Jamal said sure and I prayed for him in Jesus name and anyway and then he left and I felt sad and I had some other people praying and then next time I call him he comes and he was kind of avoiding me and I asked him out I said what's happened hey and he said how are you doing and and he said I had two dreams about Jesus and and he went on describing one of the dream is really weird got it you know God does things in a weird way and Jordan are 1 2 % nominal Christian only Christians can own a liquor store so anyway so Jamal evidently though he seemed like a good Muslim he he had a liquor store and he said well in my dream the daughter of the owner of the liquor store came to me and I didn't know he had a daughter and he told me I need to follow Jesus and read the Bible and she told me that till Jamal that and so he said so I went to my guy go to the liquor store I know his family you know and he's not a good Christian or anything but he says oh yeah I have a daughter and she reads the Bible she's really good anyway so God used that and another thing and Jamal somewhere in the process but but it's just a matter of humbling yourself with people in crisis over and over so important I actually we had to ship our stuff from Jordan to San Francisco a couple months ago and I was there at the loading dock of the and everyone's just standing around waiting for them to put your boxes in your truck we rented and there was a guy named Jose a truck driver and Jose I started talking to him Jose was Jose he was a truck driver and I mean he told me all he's got this cool religion that like he invented you know on his own like a lot of people's tend to do and I said so and then I said well how you doing though Jose he said well he said well my wife's in prison I got three kids as a little wager away from prison he says for trying to kill me and I said oh I'm so sorry was they and you have to work you're driving truck I said like you know whatever your religion doesn't seem like it's working for you can I just pray for you in Jesus name oh yeah man that'd be nice so you know people need Jesus they need hope they there is a credible amount of darkness out there people are being taken apart and a guy may have a religion but his wife tried to kill him and you know he needs Jesus and his kids need Jesus and so our job is really not to build emergency shelters in case it all collapses around is our job is to stand with Jesus to humble ourselves and cry out to him and he will give us peace you know there is a final victory actually first service I didn't get to this but I want to you know what one of the things I found this so helpful is to look in the book of Revelation again again the final apocalyptic book that for sowing years I feel like the hololens ii this world lord bless them and people now they sell books they get famous they make money and they end up be novelists but they're really missing it this book was written for churches like our church the middle east like our church Sacramento facing destruction facing you mocking from the greater society and it was written to comfort them that there is an ultimate victory and I like to get in my mind the picture of revelation 5:9 the the all of the the angelic beings seen a new song revelation 5:9 you are worthy to take the scroll and to open it see it because you were slain and with your blood you purchase for God persons from every tribe and tongue and people and nation people crying out to Jesus you are worthy you're the only one that can fix the Esau Jacob mess fix the sunni-shiite mech fix the American Islamic world mess he's the only one the israeli-palestinian conflict I was raised in the middle of that thing and it's not fixable but Jesus loves them all and he is paid for by his blood people from every tribe and tongue nation so let's just think closing I wanted us to stand together please stand and we are a proud people we Americans but I wanted us to take a few minutes in prayer and to humble ourselves before the Lord actually I think we'll take just a quiet minute or two initially and let the Lord search your heart for any source of pride anything you haven't given to Jesus which is which is taking you the idolatry last week Jason talked about any I don't anything that you are hanging on to other than Jesus let's just take a minute is there anything anything spirit give it to Jesus lay at his feet humble yourself before the Father you have many people here this morning descendants of Jacob descents of ice descendants of Russia Ukraine all the countries of the world lay down that identity and give yourself to Jesus be a person belongs to Jesus our Father we thank you that you lay down your life you humbled yourself to the point of the cross that we might know the true power of the Resurrection in our lives in our families and our church in our country Lord we ask right now that we would be a changed people empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk with you to live with you and to be a people that proclaims the good news to those around us make us your people people belong to you a royal priesthood holy nation we thank you Lord for the privileges of being here today that's celebrating you in the name of Jesus [Music] thanks for listening to the arcade Church podcast visit us at arcade church online com Facebook Twitter or Instagram [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Arcade Church

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Keywords: arcade church, Sacramento, gospel, church

Id: EJe81NrKDYA

Length: 43min 39sec (2619 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 22 2018