Scripture referenced 9 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Genesis 12:3 God's promise to bless those who bless Abraham and curse those who curse him, and that all families on earth will be blessed through him
3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treates you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
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John 4
Jesus telling the woman at the well that salvation comes through the Jews
1 Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2 (although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples),
3 he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.
4 He needed to pass through Samaria.
5 So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water?
12 Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’
18 for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.
22 You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.”
27 At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”
28 So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”
30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
31 In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
35 Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37 For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.
41 Many more believed because of his word.
42 They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
43 After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.
44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.
46 Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
48 Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe.”
49 The nobleman said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
51 As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying “Your child lives!”
52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him.”
53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” He believed, as did his whole house.
54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.
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Ezekiel 9
Ezekiel grieving over his country and God telling him to mark on the forehead those who grieve over repulsive acts being committed
1 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, each man with his destroying weapon in his hand.”
2 Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand. One man in the middle of them was clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.
3 The glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house; and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side.
4 Yahweh said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
5 To the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him, and strike. Don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity.
6 Kill utterly the old man, the young man, the virgin, little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” Then they began at the old men who were before the house.
7 He said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” They went out, and struck in the city.
8 While they were killing, and I was left, I fell on my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
9 Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion; for they say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see.’
10 As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”
11 Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, “I have done as you have commanded me.”
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Isaiah 62
God posting watchmen on Jerusalem's walls who will never be silent day or night and will call on the Lord until he establishes Jerusalem
1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp.
2 The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, which Yahweh‘s mouth will name.
3 You will also be a crown of beauty in Yahweh‘s hand, and a royal diadem in your God‘s hand.
4 You will not be called Forsaken any more; nor will your land be called Desolate any more: but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land will be married.
5 For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.
6 I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night. You who call on Yahweh, take no rest,
7 and give him no rest, until he establishes, and until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
8 Yahweh has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, “Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and foreigners will not drink your new wine, for which you have labored;
9 but those who have harvested it will eat it, and praise Yahweh; and those who have gathered it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”
10 Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Build up, build up the highway! Gather out the stones! Lift up a banner for the peoples.
11 Behold, Yahweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.’”
12 They will call them The holy people, Yahweh’s redeemed. You will be called Sought out, A city not forsaken.
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Romans 10
Paul expressing his longing and prayer for Israel to be saved, noting their misdirected zeal for God
1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.
2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
6 But the righteousness which is of faith says this, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down);
7 or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)”
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart”; that is, the word of faith, which we preach:
9 that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him.
13 For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?
15 And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”
16 But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
17 So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, didn’t they hear? Yes, most certainly, “Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
19 But I ask, didn’t Israel know? First Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding I will make you angry.”
20 Isaiah is very bold, and says, “I was found by those who didn’t seek me. I was revealed to those who didn’t ask for me.”
21 But as to Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
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Psalm 122:6
the command to pray for the peace of Jerusalem with the promise that those who love her will prosper
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper.
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Esther 3
Haman being promoted, Mordecai refusing to bow, and Haman's decree to destroy all Jews in the empire
1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.
2 All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down, and paid homage to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage.
3 Then the king’s servants, who were in the king’s gate, said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s commandment?”
4 Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he didn’t listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down, nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath.
6 But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.
7 In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, and chose the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
8 Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different than other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain.
9 If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”
10 The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.
11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”
12 Then the king’s scribes were called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the king’s ring.
13 Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
14 A copy of the letter, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that they should be ready against that day.
15 The couriers went out in haste by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given out in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Shushan was perplexed.
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Philippians 1:21
Paul saying to live is Christ and to die is gain
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
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2 Corinthians 5
Paul saying believers are not at home in earthly bodies and would rather be away from them to be with Jesus
1 For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
2 For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven;
3 if so be that being clothed we will not be found naked.
4 For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened; not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.
9 Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.
10 For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God; and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.
12 For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance, and not in heart.
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.
14 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.
15 He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
16 Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
18 But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message, taught by Deborah, was shaped by the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, which had happened just days before. She drew a line from the biblical call to stand with Israel all the way to the story of Esther and Mordecai, using both to call the congregation to be the kind of remnant God can mark and use in a moment of civilizational crisis.
What was said
Deborah opened by connecting the attack on Israel to biblical prophecy, noting that the event shook her deeply and prompted her to change her planned lesson. Her first concern was that Christians in America simply do not know why Israel matters. She traced the history from God's covenant with Abraham, through centuries of foreign rule over a largely desolate land, to the 1948 return of the Jewish people, in order to push back against what she called the lie that a pre-existing Palestinian nation was displaced when Israel was reestablished.
She argued that the attacks, and especially the global celebrations that followed, are not primarily a political event but a spiritual one. The willingness of people to cheer the murder of civilians, she said, is the fruit of ancient lies dressed in new language, and it is the same spirit that has always sought to justify genocide against the Jewish people.
From there she moved to the question of what God asks of His people in such a moment, drawing on Ezekiel 9. God told Ezekiel to mark those in the city who were genuinely grieving over evil, and to protect them. That grief, Deborah said, is the mark of the remnant. She applied this directly to the congregation, saying that if the events in Israel do not grieve you, that is worth examining honestly.
She then walked through the story of Esther and Mordecai, reading at length from Esther 3 and the chapters that follow. Mordecai's refusal to bow to Haman was not stubbornness, she said, but a refusal to submit to wicked values. His courage came from the fact that he was not afraid to die. Esther, comfortable in the palace, had to be challenged to see that her position of influence existed for a purpose larger than herself.
Three qualities of the remnant emerged from the Esther story. The first is preparation, meaning that Mordecai was already spiritually ready when the crisis arrived. The second is action, meaning that Esther made a plan, called her community to fast and pray, and then moved. The third is a willingness to take risk, and Deborah tied this directly to the tendency of Christians today to stay silent while other voices in the culture are anything but silent.
She closed by returning to the congregation's present moment, using the image of a red pill and a blue pill from the original Matrix film. The blue pill is the choice to stay comfortable, hope things work out, and live undisturbed. The red pill is the choice to see clearly, trust God with the outcome, speak up for truth and for Israel, and spend whatever influence you have drawing people toward Jesus. She said that is the choice God is putting in front of every person in the room right now.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Deborah described the remnant as followers of God who are willing to stand in the gap during times of moral and civilizational decline. Where in your own life do you feel God tapping you on the shoulder and asking you to stand up for truth?
- In Ezekiel 9, God told Ezekiel to mark on the forehead those who were grieving over the evil being committed around them. How do you personally process grief over what is happening in the world, and what does that grief move you to do?
and 3 more questions in the guide
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