This sermon delves into the visions and messages received by the prophet Zechariah, emphasizing the importance of teamwork, the new covenant fellowship, the need for young and old to work together, the role of God's Spirit in judgment and anointing, the call to care for the poor, the dangers of false prophets, the significance of grace and unity, the pouring out of the Spirit of grace and supplication, the purification of the remnant, and the future day of the Lord when Jesus will come to establish His kingdom.

Okay, let's turn to God's Word in the book of Zechariah in chapter 1. Zechariah was a young man who prophesied along with Haggai when the people came back from Babylon and those who came back as a remnant to build the temple. Haggai and Zechariah prophesied together. It's very rarely in the Old Testament that we see two prophets working together. Elijah was alone, Elisha was alone, Jonah was alone, and even if Jeremiah and Habakkuk and all lived around the same time, we never see them working together. In that sense, Haggai and Zechariah are different and I believe it was as it were, God was slowly preparing people for the new covenant where nobody works alone. Jesus, as soon as he began his ministry, he sent out his disciples two by two. Fellowship is the essential thing in the new covenant and as we approach the end of that old covenant period, here we find a wonderful example of an older man like Haggai and a much younger man like Zechariah working together and Zechariah has a much larger prophecy than even Haggai even though he was a very young man. We read about that in chapter 2 verse 4 that he was a young man when God gave him his vision and he began to prophesy. It's a great encouragement for all of us who are young that God can pick you up when you're a young man or a young woman, anoint you with his Holy Spirit and even team you up with an older godly brother like Haggai and ultimately you may have a larger ministry than him. And Haggai was such a gracious godly old man and not only pushed Zerubbabel forward but he also pushed Zechariah forward. The true man of God is always like this. He wants to push up other young people and pull back and certainly in a country like ours where the need is so great, I believe we need older people who train younger people to take over that ministry, pull out and go and do something else. Train up young people there, pull out, go and do something else. This is how it should always be. It's not God's will that a man should just settle down and forever live comfortably in one particular place and Haggai is a wonderful example of that. It's a, as we know that we're moving towards the new covenant here and he was a person who tried to encourage these discouraged people. So you've got to get a picture of these people who come back in poverty from Babylon and 70 years ago their forefathers had come as slaves and they have come back beaten. It's like in a sense descendants of slaves. Not very cultured or refined or rich or any such thing and Zechariah was encouraging them and because the people received Haggai's message, God sent them further messages through Zechariah. If you receive the message of one prophet, then God will send you another. But if you don't receive the message of one prophet, then God says there's no need for you to listen to another. So that's how Zechariah begins and we could divide the book of Zechariah into three parts. First of all, chapters one to six you have eight visions that he has and each of those visions has a spiritual meaning and then we have chapter seven and eight messages that he gives on different subjects like hypocrisy, disobedience, Israel's restoration and then from nine to fourteen we have the last section which is about the Messiah. The Messiah rejected, that's coming of Christ and finally the second coming of the Lord and the earth. Again the burden is from Babylon to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the burden of these prophets. Haggai's burden was the temple, Zechariah's is not just the temple but Jerusalem itself, the house of God, the church of God and we look at these visions. The first vision is first of all the Lord says in verse two, I was very angry with your ancestors. He's telling the people whose ancestors 70 years ago were taken captive, therefore say to the people return to me and I will return to you and don't be like your ancestors 70 years ago, one four, who did not listen when the prophets spoke to them and your ancestors and their prophets are both dead now. Verse six, but the things that I said through my servants the prophets to your ancestors have all been fulfilled just like I said. As a result they repented, these people repented and they said we have received what we deserve from the Lord. He has done what he said we should do and then begins the visions. The first vision is from verse eight onwards a man sitting on a red horse among some myrtle trees. Myrtle trees speak of humility, low trees in the valley behind him were red, brown and white horses and he asked what are these for and they said we have patrolled the earth. They report to the angel of the Lord and the whole earth is at peace and this is a picture of a picture of God watching everything that happens on the earth. We have patrolled the earth and the whole earth is at peace. Upon hearing this the angel of the Lord prayed this prayer. Lord 70 years you've been angry with Jerusalem how long will it be until you show the mercy and the Lord spoke kind comforting words to the angel who talked with me and the angel said shout this message for everyone to hear. Verse 14, my love for Jerusalem and remember when you read Jerusalem and Mount Zion it's a picture of the church, the body of Jesus Christ on earth. People my love for the church is passionate and strong therefore I have returned to show mercy to Jerusalem. Verse 16, my church will be built. This is what the Lord Almighty says so the message that comes through from here is even though we are in a shady place it says here that in a small valley that's a picture of God's people in a shaded small valley there is someone watching over the whole earth interested in this small group of people in this shaded area in a small valley trying to build God's house. That's the message of the first vision. Sometimes you can be in a very lonely place it's like a not a big city or anything small place small valley you feel well what am I doing here the Lord is watching the eyes of the Lord run through and through throughout the whole earth like it says here in verse 11 we control the whole earth he's working on your behalf and he says be encouraged my love for building for the church is passionate and strong. These are words of encouragement that's how Zacharias sought to encourage the people and now we come to verse 18. Then I looked up and saw four animal horns and these are speaks of the enemies of the church. What are these? These are these horns represent the world powers that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem and we can say in those days it represented say Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Medo-Persia the four nations that before Zacharias time had persecuted Israel. In our time we could refer it to the forces of darkness that come against the church from four sides north, south, east, west forces like horns. Horns in the bible are always a picture of strength the gates of Hades the powers of death and these are the ones it says who scattered. See the work of the devil is always to come into the church and scatter divide the church divide this brother from that brother this sister from that sister make this one gossip against that person make this one have a misunderstanding of that person scatter them. This is what the devil does north, south, east, west he's always in this business four sides four horns and against this four horns we read in verse 20 the lord showed me four blacksmiths. Blacksmiths are the people who are going to destroy these horns you know these people who got huge hammers they deal with iron blacksmiths and the lord he asked Zacharias what are these men coming to do? The blacksmiths have come to terrify the four horns that scattered and humbled Judah they will throw them down and destroy them. These are God's servants and in that day it was Haggai, Zachariah, Joshua and Zerubbabel. Today God's prophets on all sides God raises up one here one here one here one there north south east and west to terrify Satan. God's servants it applies to you my brother my sister you are to be a servant of God who terrifies Satan. Verse 21 most believers are terrified by Satan by demons. I remember once when I encountered a demon-possessed person and they are so fiery and furious that I got a bit taken aback and I asked myself one question immediately to strengthen my own faith. I said was this demon conquered on Calvary or was this one of those demons who somehow managed to escape? No I said to myself this demon is also conquered on Calvary along with Satan. Then I had faith to cast that demon out immediately. So whenever you see something terrifying a demon-possessed person ask yourself is that conquered on Calvary? When you see Satan working intensely in one area when he stirred up people against you ask yourself this question was Satan defeated on the cross? You are to terrify Satan. Can you imagine how it was when Jesus was on this earth wherever he went Satan got scared. Oh Jesus coming all the demons Jesus coming here he's moving in this direction we better run. And the bible says 1 John 4 18 as Jesus is so are we in this world as he is so are we in this world that means if you are walking with a clear conscience you're walking in humility you have no ambition on earth but to glorify God no desire for anything on earth except to glorify God in your life. Wherever you go the demons will begin to tell hey he's coming he's coming this is not like anybody else this man's a man with a clear conscience this man's a humble man he's not like these other fellows we are in danger. Isn't it something my brother and sister to be one like that a blacksmith in God's hands to hammer the devil's work and to destroy it and to be stronger and stronger as you grow older instead of the way it is with so many creatures nowadays who only become fatter and richer and less anointed don't go that way become thinner and more anointed and poorer perhaps that's that's how it that's how true servants of God are yeah just think of it don't go the way Christendom is going and its leaders are going decide to go in another direction the way Jesus went and the early apostles went they went from strength to strength to strength there's a lovely promise in Deuteronomy is it 33 27 I'm not sure I think it is as your days so shall your strength be in the english version I think it's like that that's a lovely verse I want to claim that in my life as your days so shall your spiritual power be I want all of you to from your youth to claim that say Lord I want my spiritual strength to grow more and more with every year as I grow up as a young man I want to be one who terrifies satan okay that's the second mission we go to the third one which is chapter 2 verses 1 to 13 it says I see a man who is measuring Jerusalem with a measuring line in his hand and he's he asked where are you going and he said I'm going to measure Jerusalem to see how wide and how long it is you know the Lord is trying to teach people how to measure the church and to me this is a picture of you know getting a membership list and seeing how strong our church is and a wonderful thing is that for the church there is only one membership list that is up in heaven the book of life any membership list that you keep here on earth is useless that one is the only one that's going to matter in the final day and all these earthly membership lists why would you measure how big your church is your word is worth nothing and the angel came to me as went to meet a second angel who was coming toward him and the angel said hurry up and tell this young man Zachariah Jerusalem will someday be so full of people that it won't have any room for everyone many will live outside the city walls yet they'll be safe you know they were a small group of people then and they were thinking who's going to come to this despised group of ours all the people are living comfortably in Babylon much comfortable there here we are a small despised group trying to be a testimony for the Lord trying to build this temple build Jerusalem again who's interested in the angel came to encourage him said don't worry people from here and there will hear about you and will come and join you one day today you may be small all of God's work starts very small but if God can find leaders who will hang on and not compromise his principles even if they are small one day from north and south and east and west those who have a hunger for godliness those who have a hunger for reality will gradually hear of this group and come and meet with you because they say here is where God is here is where life is because I myself will be a wall of fire round about the church it's not going to have any earthly walls it's not denomination walls you please sign this doctrinal statement come and join this church those are all denomination walls God says I will be a wall of fire round about this church you're not going to get somebody's signature and make him a member I'm going to be a wall of fire you're not even going to just baptize him and make him a member the man has to come through the wall of fire with all his earthly ambitions burnt up with all his desire to live for himself burnt up then he can come through to this church can you imagine if a city is surrounded by a wall of fire how do you get through to that city you've got to go through the fire God says I will be a wall of fire round about the church and anybody who wants to come in has to come through that wall of fire and only what cannot be burnt will come through everything that can be burnt will be burnt up by God at that entrance itself there's no gate you got to come through the wall of fire who can dwell with the consuming fire we saw in Isaiah chapter 33 Hebrews 12 it says our God is a consuming fire and so whenever preachers try to lower the temperature of the fire till it's not shooting up with big flames and bring it down to almost nothing so that anybody can walk into the church which all with all their worldly ideas and worldly ambitions and love of the world you can be pretty sure that's not a church where God is because it says if you allow me to be a wall of fire round about your church it says I will be the glory inside it you want the glory of God to be inside the church then let him be a wall of fire outside the church the two go together you don't want him to be a wall of fire outside the church you'll say oh these are too high standards we can't have all that okay when he goes away the glory in the midst of the church will also go the two go together I want to be a part of a church which has got a wall of fire on about it no earthly membership lists or doctrinal statements primarily but God as a wall of fire I'm not saying doctrine is not important all I'm saying is that alone is not enough the doctrine is not a wall of fire God is a wall of fire and when God is there there will be right doctrine but the most important thing will be more important than the doctrine is the glory of God will be in the midst of the church so that's what I um Zachariah saw in this vision God is a wall and so the exiles are called in verse six come away from Babylon escape to Jerusalem what a word that we need to proclaim today you come out of Babylon yourself God is not going to catch you by the neck and pull you out of Babylon and say come here no the responsibility is yours you decide I don't want to be in a system that doesn't honor God I want to be with God's people I want to be with those who are wholehearted I want to be with those who are gathering around inside a wall of fire where the glory of God is seen in the midst and those of you who are seeking to build a church build a church like this everything else is useless you have to pay a price don't think you can just get a doctrine get a pattern look somewhere else where somebody else has done it that way and reproduce the same thing yourself if God is not burnt up everything that is combustible that can be burned in your life you're not going to be able to build that church make sure that every earthly ambition is burnt up in your life make sure that everything that God does not love you don't love and everything that God hates you hate I'm not going to make a list of that you ask God to show you the thing that he hates and you hate it and the things that God loves love with a fiery love and then you can be used of God man or woman to build the church of Jesus Christ and the Lord says verse 10 shout and rejoice for I'm coming to live among you many nations not just individuals from many many countries people will come from many many countries they will come to hear what you have to say because they have heard that God is with you and the land of Judah he will choose and be silent before the Lord for he is springing into action verse 13 from his holy dwelling and then we come to the third vision here in chapter three and that's a vision of uh cleansing of the crowning the cleansing and the crowning of Joshua the servant of God very interesting that I told you there are two movements in the Old Testament one is Egypt to Canaan speaking about the individual life and from Babylon to Jerusalem speaking about church life and in both of them there is a Joshua there's a Joshua in to Canaan and there's a Joshua in to Jerusalem here he is and Joshua is the just the Hebrew word for Jesus Savior that's not just a coincidence it's more meaningful than a coincidence and Joshua was the high priest today Christ is a high priest with one difference that this Joshua was a sinner and just like the other Joshua and who led people into Canaan was deceived by the Gibeonites they were human beings in one way they were types of Christ but they were human and they had their limitations and they had sin whereas Jesus is absolutely pure and sinless but other than that Joshua is a picture of Christ but what I want to show you here is not Joshua is a picture of Christ but Joshua is a picture of a leader he was the leader one of the leaders one of these four blacksmiths and the four leaders who was leading the people into building God's temple in Jerusalem and this leader has got sin in his life not deliberate known sin if it was deliberate known sin it would be a very serious thing Paul could only say in one Corinthians 4.4 I don't know anything against myself my conscience is clear but the one who judges me is the Lord and there are many things that he sees which I cannot see and as and when God shows it to me I confess it and cleanse it there is conscious sin in our life and unconscious and even in leaders there will be unconscious sin there is no leader anywhere in the world who is Christ's life he not even the apostle Paul when they slapped Jesus he did not threaten the high priest when they slapped Paul he said God might give you a whitewashed wall you know there's a difference between Christ and even Paul. Paul fell into sin at that time he was a bit upset but then he immediately confessed it and asked forgiveness and said it right so let me tell you this you'll never find a leader anywhere in the world who is Christ's life we become like Jesus only when he comes again we are we will never be sinlessly perfect on this earth not even the greatest leader and that is why sometimes you may look at a leader and you may see some defect in him there are defects in the greatest leaders nobody's perfect you'll find defects in the greatest prophet in the world when he speaks there'll be defects in his speech don't worry about those defects some of those defects that may be very minor so here it teaches us that the greatest of leaders on earth can still have some deficiency in their life and what should you do when you see that defect I'm not talking about now you should not misunderstand this to apply to a leader living in adultery or leader running after money or I'm not talking about these things I'm talking about you know little defects which are not serious but which are still on Christ likenesses that's the theme here Joshua the high priest was standing before the Lord and Satan was there to accuse him Satan targets leaders he's always looking for leaders targeting them targeting their wives targeting their children remember this don't be harsh to judge a leader because he's a bigger target of Satan than you are his children are bigger targets of Satan than your children are his wife is a bigger target of Satan than your wife is and he's there to accuse Joshua to the Lord and here is the great encouragement that the Lord said I the Lord verse 2 reject your accusations we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous we don't only have an accuser Satan accusing us we have an advocate sometimes we are so taken up with the accuser that we forget the advocate who is praying for us there are two ministries going on in heaven right now one is Satan's like in the book of Job you read accusing look at Job he's like this this this this this look at Joshua he's like this accusing and accusing you accusing me and there's another ministry going on in heaven at the same time and it says in Hebrew 725 Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us a ministry of accusation and a ministry of intercession and those who are in fellowship with Satan will accuse believers on earth also every time you gossip against another believer speak evil against another believer whether you know it or not you're holding hands with Satan there yeah yeah you're I agree with you Satan he's like that and every time you pray for somebody you pray for some brother he's weak you're holding hands with Jesus and saying Lord I agree with you we got to pray for that brother and deliver him from that problem how many times have you held hands with Satan and how many times have you held hands with you you know at least it can be different in the future and there we see Joshua was standing there the Lord says I reject your accusations and that is what I also say when people come to me with accusations I know I've had people come to my house and say brother Zach I want to tell you about so and so so and so this this this is I say thank you very much I'm going to call him up or meet him today itself and tell him that you told me all this he said no no no brother please don't go and tell I said no I have to tell I'm faithful to all my brothers if somebody comes and tells me about you I will come and tell you also and if you tell me about somebody else I will go and tell about somebody else you know what is the result my house has been protected from gossiping for a long long time because people don't come with all their stories now because they know I'll go and tell the other person and they also know that I will not speak against the person behind his back I will tell him straight to his face be like that the Lord says I reject your accusations I'm sorry maybe what you say is right but this man is a child of God he's a burning stick snatched from the fire now Joshua was having filthy garments and so the angel said take away his filthy clothes this is Jesus pleading for us take away his filthy clothes put on new clothes on him and he stands there clothed in the righteousness of Christ that is the way we must see God's children clothed in the righteousness of Christ and then Zachariah this is the best part and see it and follow the example of Zachariah he says Lord this is wonderful put a good turban on his head also he cooperates with Jesus in making his filthy brother glorious do you want this ministry to cooperate with Jesus that when Jesus puts a robe of righteousness on that brother you cooperate with him and say Lord not only a robe put a turban on his head make him really glorious what does this mean in practical terms somebody comes and tells me something bad about a brother and I say but you know he's got some good qualities and suddenly the fellow is mouth is shut yeah it's wonderful to have this ministry particularly in prayer when you go before God I never forget what I read about John Hyde that great missionary who came to North India was known as praying Hyde he says how one day he was kneeling down and praying and Lord he was saying Lord you know that pastor he is like this and suddenly he felt as if he was being choked so Holy Spirit was choking him and said don't get into a ministry of accusation pray for him and he learned something that day not to accuse even in prayer but to pray so that's what Zachariah did and that's the and then we read Joshua is crowned and he continues in his ministry I want to say to you pray for God's leaders don't join the devil in criticizing them they've got enough people to criticize them whenever you think of them offer a brief prayer whenever the Lord reminds you of a true servant of God please spend one minute or half a minute or 15 seconds praying for him Lord you reminded me of that person I don't know what he's going through I don't know how the devil did that to him I want to pray for him hold him up protect his family bless his ministry chapter four here we see a fifth vision we've seen one of the horses we've seen the one of the horns and the measuring line in Jerusalem and crowning in Joshua the fifth one is the golden lampstand the Lord sees showed Zachariah a picture of a solid gold lampstand verse three with a bowl of oil on top and on the side of the lampstand were two trees this is automatically in the in the temple the priest had to go and put the oil in the lampstand every day because it would burn up but this is automatic there were olive trees growing by the side of the lampstand and there were pipes connected to this lampstand and as the olive trees produced oil it was automatically pouring it into the lampstand and the lampstand was burning all the time there's a picture of the church revelation chapter one you read the lampstand is a picture of the church and this is the ministry of the holy spirit continuous ministry and these two branches are a picture verse 14 Zachariah asked him what are these two branches these two trees verse 11 and they said these are two anointed servants of mine verse 14 who are assisting the Lord in keeping the church fresh spirit filled all the time that means two anointed servants of the Lord who are spirit filled all the time who are fresh all the time anytime you meet them they are in touch with the spirit anytime you meet them there's some oil coming out of them to bless you oh what a picture don't you think the church needs people like that two like Haggai and Zachariah cooperating together not one person trying to get all the glory to himself one here one here this servant of God needs a balance from that servant of God this person pours oil from here that person boils oil from there and both together make this lampstand of the church burn and two brothers together can work together for the building of the church without competition without jealousy both filled with the holy spirit both seeking that the lampstand should burn no personal ambitions no desire to show that I'm a better olive tree than the other one on the other side only interested in the lampstand to burn I believe we can build a church there which the gates of hell will never be able to prevail against and that's what the Lord says here when you find something like this this could be a picture of Joshua and Zerubbabel it could be a picture of Haggai and Zachariah it could be anyone two people working together this is new covenant ministry this is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel verse six it's not by might not by power but by my spirit says the Lord every mighty mountain will be flattened in front of you when the church moves out like this the gates of hell will never be able to prevail against it because it is filled with the spirit now notice what we have seen in chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 in chapter 2 we see the ministry of God the Father being a wall of fire round about the church in chapter 3 we see the ministry of God the Son as the advocate of God's people and God's leaders and in chapter 4 we see God the Holy Spirit filling and anointing the church it's a whole trinity here it's beautiful what Zachariah saw then we come to the next vision in chapter 6 it's always like this we saw in the Old Testament when the rivers began to flow from the rock immediately Amalek came and here we see in a little while first of all chapter 5 we have a vision of a flying scroll about 30 feet long chapter 5 verse 2 15 feet wide 30 feet long 15 feet wide a scroll a scroll is like a book in those days they didn't have books like this they had scrolls and he says this scroll contains a curse the curse of the law that is going to go upon all those who tell lies and who steal particularly two things and I'm sending the curse into verse 4 to the house of every thief and every liar and my curse will remain in their house till it is completely destroyed this is a picture of judgment upon those who disobey God's word it will go into every house and expose sin swiftly it's flying and it's going to bring judgment that's the other vision as Jared Zachariah saw about the fact that God's law will come forth and bring judgment in every little corner wherever it's hidden and then we see the sixth sorry the seventh vision is about Babylon it's a woman similar to the woman you read in revelation chapter 17 and she's a businesswoman Babylon is a business system as you read in revelation 18 it's a vision verse 5 chapter 5 verse 5 to 11 of a basket which is used for measuring grain it's a measure it's called a bushel a basket by which you measure grain you put the grain in and wipe it off and that's one measure and it's filled with the sins verse 6 of everyone in the land and there's a lead cover verse 7 on top that means the real motivating force is hidden today in a lot of Christian systems we don't realize the motivating force is the devil for example when you gossip how many of you recognize that the motivating force behind your gossip and backbiting is the devil it's hidden under a lead cover lead is a very heavy metal underneath that when you lift it up there's a woman sitting inside and that woman is mystery Babylon the woman's name is wickedness and he pushed her back into the basket and closed the heavy lady just showed it to you Zachariah I'll show you most of these other people don't see it they think we are just doing business you know a lot of people who are involved in business there's a lot of things underneath that lead cover which is black money cheating lying and the Lord shows his prophet look inside it's all corrupt put it back in these fellows can't see it be careful and when that comes into the church like in the days of Jesus people were making business inside the church others couldn't see yeah we need sheep we need doves these people are doing a good ministry but Jesus could see underneath the lead cover what was going on behind all this selling of doves and sheep in the temple these fellows were making money in the name of religion the same thing today when a lot of preachers make money in the name of religion and the verse they use is the laborer is worthy of his higher the Lord has ordained those who preach the gospel should live live by the gospel you lift up the lead cover and look inside it's Babylon through and through God gives his servants discernment and that's why other people can't see it because there's a lead cover on it a spirit which is motivating this type of business particularly when it is done in the Lord's name and it says here I looked up and I saw two women flying toward us verse 9 and their wings were like those of a stork a stork was one of those unclean animals listed in Leviticus chapter 11 verse 19 an unclean animal and this is a picture of something unclean picking up the basket pick up this basket and flew off in the sky and I asked where are they taking this basket verse 11 to the land of Babylon Shinar is another word for Babylon you read about it in Genesis 11 with the tower of Shinar is taking him to the land of Babylon where they will build a temple they are going to build a church in Babylon also for this basket where business and religion will go hand in hand they will do business and they will do the Lord's work and when the temple is ready this basket will be set on its pedestal their fundamental aim in Christian work will be to make a name for themselves and to make money because they didn't get any other job they went to the Lord's work and they're going to do God's work here this is happening today that's the other vision God gave Zachariah then we come to the last vision that he had is chapter it's actually in chapter 6 verses 1 to 8 he says there he saw four chariots come between two bronze mountains now bronze in the bible always speaks of judgment you know the brazen altar the altar made of bronze where the animals were sacrificed judged so bronze always speaks of judgment and between these bronze mountains these chariots they look like uncontrolled horses but God has got the control of the reins red horses black horses white horses gray horses something like revelation chapter 6 there he asked what are these these are the four spirits of heaven who stand before the Lord and they are going out to do his work and the chariot with the black horses going some are going north west and south and we read in verse 7 they they went to and fro across the earth they patrolled the earth and the Lord and they ministered God's judgment in some way God judge maybe send a flood somewhere a famine somewhere they did something because of God's anger against sin and they came back and the Lord said to me those who went north have vented the anger of my spirit over there that means my anger has been exhausted by my judgment upon those people so that's the other thing we see here of this vision of God's final judgment that's also going to go over the earth so these are the visions that Isaiah sorry Zachariah got and then we find here some words of encouragement that Zachariah gets here in chapter 6 in verse 9 onwards I received another message from the Lord saying some people will bring some silver and gold to you and as soon as they arrive meet them accept their gifts does God tell his servants to accept gifts yes he does when godly people come and give you a gift take it even Zachariah accepted it Elisha refused it from Naaman but he didn't refuse it from everybody and when you take it don't use it all for yourself make a crown of silver and gold and give it to Joshua some of the gifts God gives us are not for ourselves they are for others to bless others and tell tell Joshua give him a word of encouragement when you meet Joshua and you go to him with this gift tell him that the Lord Almighty says here is the man called the branch it's a picture of Jesus and he will build the real church he will build the Lord's temple and he will receive honor he will rule as a king from his throne and he will also serve as a priest from his throne in the old testament nobody was allowed to be a king and a priest you know Uzziah tried to be that and he brought calamity upon himself he got leprosy Saul tried to be that and he brought calamity upon himself lost the judge lost the kingdom Jesus is the only one who could be a king and a priest and once he became a king and a priest he has made us we read in revelation 1 kings and priests and many verse 15 will come from distant lands to celebrate and to build the church along with you that's a prophecy that from many many places people will come and build the church along with you okay now we go to chapter 7 and he tells them about say to the people in verse 4 he's telling them about rituals that they had which the Lord had not commanded see now the visions are over now he the Lord gives him certain messages on fasting and hypocrisy and disobedience in the next two chapters he says say to those people that all those years when you fasted and mourned in the summer in the early autumn verse 4 was it really to me and even now in your holy festivals you think do you think about me but only of pleasing yourselves isn't this the same message the Lord proclaimed through the prophets years ago this is what the Lord says verse 8 judge fairly honestly just like Micah said what does the Lord require of you show mercy and kindness to other people don't oppress poor people like widows orphans foreigners and poor people don't make evil harms to harm each other then all your fasting and your breaking of bread and everything will be of value otherwise it's no use you know how much God cares for the poor people in a church i feel sorry when a preacher or a pastor or a shepherd does not care for the poor i remember when i was a young christian and i had just come out of my job to serve the lord and i was in a particular group of assemblies and i went there with great hopes and i saw the full-time workers they're always visiting the homes of the rich people because the rich people would give them gifts and envelopes that they could put in their pocket and i saw all this as a young christian and i said lord i'll never live for this i did not give up my job to do all this and i made it the policy in that church to visit the poorest of the poor in their huts in their homes i would go visiting the poorest villages where only poor people were where the great preachers would never go and as i continued to grow i said lord the great preachers come to the great cities please send me to the villages of india to the poorest of the poor villages to illiterate people that i can give them this wonderful news of the gospel and God has granted me my heart's desire that today we have churches and villages where there was no church for two years people who are some of them illiterate who live on one meal a day who come to love the lord i want to tell you my brothers and sisters god cares for the poor he cares for the widows he cares for the orphans and he cares for the helpless the foreigners the strangers be like god yourself he says your ancestors verse 11 would not listen to this message they turned away verse 11 7 11 and so they did not listen to the spirit and that's why they were punished and i scattered them we come to chapter 8 and there god is a jealous god as we read in verse 1 and 2 my love for mount zion is passionate and strong i'm consumed with a passion for jerusalem which means i'm jealous that jerusalem should never be corrupted like a husband who wants to keep his wife pure and verse 4 and 5 i like this verse in the church this is jerusalem there will be old men and old women and there will be boys and girls and there'll be no generation gap between them i don't care how old i am i want to be at the level of the smallest boys and girls in the church i love to speak to the little boys and girls in a church the little boys and girls in a home when i go i think jesus was like that sometimes you go visiting a home and you only talk to the older people learn to talk to the little children my brothers and sisters jesus was like that it'll keep your own spirit young i believe in my spirit i'm only in my 20s perhaps because i'm i love to mingle with children and young people this is how the church is there should never be a generation gap between older people and young people never a godly man will be down at the level even of the children and the wonderful thing it's another thing i see here is that in jerusalem in the streets of the city the boys and girls are playing and they're not fasting and praying necessarily there's a time for that but they are playing i don't know maybe they're playing football and we play football in the church well i'm a little old to run around so much now but in my spirit i love to play any game i can play because there's a fellowship a unity that comes together when we play together and mingle in ordinary earthly things that builds bonds of friendship and fellowship boys and girls playing this is how it's going to be in the millennium praise god for that and chapter nine we read of a number of messages in chapter nine onwards that are messages that are after completing the temple there are so many excellent things here in all these chapters i wouldn't have time to go into all of them here he speaks about a burden a burden is something that weighs me down and what it says here the amplified bible says in verse one the lord has got his eye on all men and he speaks about the judgment against israel's enemies ashkelon tyre gaza different people he speaks about judgment against all of them and in chapter 10 he speaks about judgment against false prophets verse 2 many of these false prophets are fortune tellers they predict things about the future and actually tell you lies they say this is what's going to happen to you there are so-called prophets nowadays to whom believers go what do you think will happen to me if i go this place take this job or go to this country it's all about material things where are the prophets who tell them about their sin like the old testament prophets no these are fortune tellers just like in the world there are fortune tellers there are fortune tellers in every religion and there are fortune tellers in christianity too those fortune tellers of other religions also collect money and the fortune tellers in christendom who call themselves prophets also collect money don't be deceived by them don't be frightened by their threats and their warnings and don't be deceived by their promises of prosperity go to a prophet who will tell you about your sin and make you like christ that's the one who can help you it's because you listen to these false prophets that my people were still wandering like lost sheep without any shepherd to protect them therefore the lord says my anger burns against these shepherds and i will punish these leaders always the prophets were hitting out against the leaders and the lord almighty has come to look after the flock himself verse 3 from judah will come the cornerstone a prophecy about christ beautiful passage which i'd encourage you to study more deeply about jesus i will strengthen judah and save israel verse 6 he's going to make them into one body these separated groups he's going to bring them together and make them one body like jew and gentile judah and israel he'll make them one he's going to unite them chapter 11 again he speaks in verse 4 onwards about good shepherds and evil shepherds and there are two things he mentions here in verse 7 he speaks about grace i took two shepherd staffs and named them one grace and the other unity you know what are the two most important messages required in the church today grace and unity not unity without grace and not grace without unity both what do i mean what is the manifestation of grace romans 6 14 sin shall not be the master over you when you are under grace that is the proof that you have really come under grace when you got forgiveness of sins you got a little bit of grace but when you come under grace one is like a cup of water the other is like a river of water when you come under grace sin does not rule over you that's one of the most important messages to be proclaimed in the church today and those who have come to this experience of grace and the holy spirit being poured upon them must be united and become one with each other it's not unity with every tom and harry who calls himself a christian but with those who seek for victory over sin and then we come to chapter 12 again we read about the burden of the lord and it says in verse 10 that god will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication or the spirit of grace and groaning upon god's people romans 6 speaks about the spirit of grace romans 8 speaks about the spirit of groaning the spirit groans within us in prayer the holy spirit when he comes upon us comes upon us as a spirit of grace helping us to overcome and also comes within us as a spirit of groaning making us pray and cry out to god for the building of the church and in that day romans sorry in zechariah chapter 13 you speak about you read about the fountain that's going to be opened and the sword that will strike the shepherd verse 7 with jesus quoted before he went to the cross he said all will be offended because the sword will strike the shepherd he quoted that in mark 14 27 and then about the remnant i will bring verse 9 that small group two-thirds of the people will be cut off verse 8 but a small remnant will be left behind who will choose this way and i'll bring that group through the fire through the wall of fire make them pure and they will call upon my name and then we come to chapter 14 which speaks about the coming day of the lord when jesus will come verse 4 and will stand on the mount of olives and the mount of olives verse will be split into two and in that day the ordinary sources of light verse 6 will stop shining the sun and moon will stop shining it won't be a normal day the enemies of jerusalem will be destroyed and the last verse in the church there will be no more businessmen it's a beautiful verse no canaanite or as some translations put it there'll be no more businessmen in the church there'll be nobody coming to the church to make profit to make gain for himself business is the principle of babylon but sacrifice is the principle of jerusalem to gain as much as i can is the principle of babylon to give to build the church is the principle of jerusalem there'll be no more businessmen in that day when the lord purifies the church finally let's pray