Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of Zechariah 4 in the prayer movement, highlighting God's encouragement to Zerubbabel and Joshua as they rebuild the temple, which symbolizes the house of prayer. He reassures leaders that despite obstacles like sin and lack of resources, God's spirit will empower them to succeed in their divine assignments. Bickle stresses the importance of maintaining a close relationship with God to receive the supernatural supply needed for their tasks, encouraging all believers to take ownership of their roles in the kingdom work. The message serves as a reminder that success in ministry is not solely based on human effort but on divine assistance and grace.

Zechariah 4, this is a very personal chapter to people in the prayer movement, beyond that for sure, because it speaks of the whole purpose of the kingdom of God. But I know that prayer leaders all around the world are particularly encouraged by Zechariah chapter 4 because Zerubbabel is being charged to build the temple that the Word calls, the Word of God calls the temple of the house of prayer. Father, we ask you to release your blessing upon people that are endeavoring to be faithful to you, that you would encourage their spirit, you would strengthen their spirit. Whatever assignment they have in the kingdom, all over the world, as they hear this message in various places, I thank you in Jesus' name, Amen. A quick review from the last session, paragraph A, the fourth and the fifth vision, which is Zechariah 3 and Zechariah 4, they go together. They show how God will cleanse the leadership, that's Zechariah 3, and how he will anoint them and use them, that's Zechariah 4. Let's go down to paragraph C, Zechariah is prophesying to the two main leaders related to the building of the temple, Joshua, the high priest, he's over the whole priesthood and all the work inside the temple, and Zerubbabel, he's the governor, all the work in building up the building, the facilities of the temple. Now, these two receive the word of the Lord for themselves in a direct way, but it also speaks more than just their own personal calling, but it represents Israel's leadership and Israel's national calling to be a priestly nation to the ends of the earth. Paragraph D, I like to say this one, these two visions encourage those leaders building the temple in that day, and again, the work of the kingdom around the world, anybody that's doing it in any part of the kingdom work. But again, there's a particular encouragement in Zechariah 3 and 4 that comes to people building the house of prayer work and the obstacles that they're overcoming. I just like to always take opportunity to encourage those that are doing that at whatever level of leadership they're involved in. Paragraph F, still review, the Lord is addressing the two main obstacles that stand in the way of the people of God entering into their promises. The first obstacle is our sin, Zechariah 3, he cleanses it. The next obstacle is our lack of resource, Zechariah 4, he provides for it. Paragraph G, he cleanses our heart and helps our work, or the work that he's entrusted to us, it's his work. Paragraph H, the first obstacle to overcome is the lie, we failed too much for God to use us in leadership. The second obstacle is to overcome the lie, we lack too much to complete the will of God. The will of God's too big, we don't have enough resource. Let's turn to page 36, now you'll notice the graphic there, Andrew Chen, our own Andrew Chen made this. I was very impressed, I looked at it and I said, my goodness, I thought he had the open vision. I mean, I've seen so many pictures of the lamp stand in Zechariah 4 and I tried to figure it out and I've destroyed many a napkin on airplanes trying to write this thing, it didn't look anything close to that. I couldn't figure out what the this and the that and the pipes, I always, ah, Andrew Chen, thank you, extremely helpful. And any of you are free to use this in any way that you want. We're going to look at this graphic in just a moment, we're going to read the text on page 36, but basically, Zechariah, he sees a lamp stand that has seven branches. It's a menorah and it has a bowl on the top with two trees on each side and those two trees are dripping oil into the bowl. It's a supernatural work of God is the point. The bowl at the top is now supplying the lamp stand which spoke of the temple work or the mandate God gave the nation. The lamp stand are the people of God and their work to shine forth God's light to the ends of the earth. But God raises up those who are symbolic, these trees are symbolic that inspire and energize by the anointing of the Spirit the work of God and the people of God which is symbolized by the lamp stand. Okay, now let's, I'm going to read through the text here on page 36 and then I want you to kind of look at, to look at the graphic. Verse 2, there is a lamp stand of solid gold. It has a bowl on the top, okay that's C, the bowl on top, and on the stand are seven lamps. That's E, those are the seven lamps, those little flames at the top. Now they have seven pipes to the seven lamps, that's always where I got lost. D represents the seven pipes to the seven lamps, it's pretty clear. Verse 3, two olive trees, right and the left of the bowl, there you have A, exhibit A, the olive branch. Verse 12, what are these two olive branches, it's what Zachariah asks. Now these two branches, that's A, now catch it, they drip into the receptacles. The receptacles are B, they're just kind of floating up there by the power of God, it's just a vision, and the golden oil drains or it flows from the branch to the receptacle into the bowl, into the lamp, and the lamp shines forth the light of God's presence and truth to the nations. That's the idea, that's the vision that he saw. Thank you Andrew. Let's go to paragraph B, the message of the vision. God is giving Zerubbabel assurance through this vision. I mean Zachariah is having the vision, but he's going to go to Zerubbabel probably the next day, and he says, you're not going to believe what I saw, I don't know who he goes to first. If he goes to Joshua first, Joshua, you're clean and God's reestablishing you in your role, or Zerubbabel, you're discouraged but the task you're about is going to work. But we find out in Zachariah 6, I'm getting ahead of myself, that in the morning when the night vision is over, a group of visitors of the Jewish exiles from Babylon have walked all the way over and they arrive that morning and they want to talk to Zachariah. So he has a busy day the day after. Long night and a busy day. But what a memorable day. I'm sure he had no complaints. The paragraph B, he's giving Zerubbabel, the governor, this encouragement. You're going to win, it's going to succeed. You're going to mobilize the people this time, because remember, back in 536, we're at 519, so it's about 20 years later, 16, 17 years later, whatever. He mobilized the nation back in 536 BC, they only lasted a year or two and they died out. So he's a little gun shy to mobilize the nation. It's like here we start the house of prayer, we sign everybody up, everyone has their role, a year or two later we stop the house of prayer, 16 years go by, let's start the house of prayer again, the leader of the people are going, ah, been there, done that. So it's pretty, it's pretty challenging to take this on the second time after failing before the whole nation. Not only did Zerubbabel, I think that he would have seen himself as failing or at least coming up short, but so did the people. So it's kind of a sore spot to start this thing up again. So when he says you're going to succeed, it's going to work, that's a huge word, that's not a small word. Because Zerubbabel could say to Zechariah, Zechariah, you're only 25 years old, you're only about 20 back, you're about 5 years old, do you even remember the trauma we went through shutting this thing down? I don't know, I'm just kind of throwing that conversation into the mix. He tells him you're going to overcome every obstacle. The money's going to come, the job's going to be completed, you're not going to quit this time, that's the message. Now this message applies to any God-given ministry assignment anywhere in the kingdom of God, not just to the Temple of Jerusalem and not just to the prayer movement, but this message applies to everybody who God has given a divine assignment to. Even if they've quit and failed and they're starting back up again, I mean what a powerful message Zechariah 4 is. Paragraph C, but in its ideal context, he's talking specifically to the leaders of Jerusalem. He's saying God is going to give you supernatural power to fulfill your national calling, Israel, to be a lampstand, a priestly nation to the whole world. You're going to fill the earth with the glory of God from this city, Jerusalem. Of course that's under Jesus' leadership in the millennium, but it is a statement of that. Paragraph D, a couple practical details, Zechariah receives this vision, February 15, 519, and it's three years later he completes the work, and the work of the temple in this sense is the building of the facilities. They got to move all the rock, remember they didn't have power equipment, they didn't have tools, they didn't go down to the tool shop and buy shovels. They had to make the tools to move the rocks. They didn't have stores, they didn't have any resources to go to, they had to make it all. I mean what a challenge. Just a heap of rubble in the city when they arrived, and the heap is still there on the temple site. Surely they've moved some of it, but a lot of it's still there. Three years later, they finish, so we're still in the middle of the story, the drama. It's interesting, I just put this in here because we're so fond of it, Nehemiah 12, verse 47, Zerubbabel raised the money to pay the singers. I love it, it wasn't just offering the sacrifices that spoke of Jesus' atonement, there was the night and day worship going on like David had. Top of page 37. So we're going to look at the vision a little bit, break it down, and I'll encourage you to take that graphic and look at the description. I've written it out as detailed as I can, as precise as I can. I had some others helping me. I asked them, does this make sense? They go, no. So then we changed the wording, and does this make sense? Then I asked someone else, no. So we changed the wording again. We went through quite a process to try to really get this thing specific. I had a bunch of folks helping me on this. And so I encourage you to, it'd be worth it to put a little effort to go through, compare the graphic, and get the picture in your mind so you can read this chapter in a fluid way and really enjoy it in a devotional way. Because until you become familiar with it, you won't be as fluid in the devotional exchange of the Lord. If you're still confused by the language, it'll get in the way of the conversation. This chapter is so dynamic when you're having that fluid conversation with the Lord, and you get what's going on in the chapter. But it takes a little bit of effort to get there. Not that much, but a little bit. Well let's read the vision. Here again, so characteristic in Zechariah 1 to 6, because it's the eight visions in one night. Zechariah 1 to 6, six chapters, eight visions. There's all this human dynamic between Zechariah and angels and what the angels do or the Lord does. Then it manifests itself in circumstances. I mean there's this tremendous dynamic of the angelic realm with Zechariah and the human process. Verse 1, the angel who talked to me, that's the familiar angel, the interpreting angel, he wakes me up. Zechariah, you fell asleep. The most important day of your life, you fell asleep. The angel wakes him up. But I think there's something more than just the human dynamic which that's showing. It comes to him, wakes him, Zechariah, Zechariah, the angel takes the initiative to get his attention and to wake him out of his sleep. I think it actually speaks of a spiritual reality as well. And that being that the Lord is intentionally waking up his people to tell them about Zechariah 4. I think it was a real reality of Zechariah and the angel. So he really fell asleep. But I think the reason it's in the Word, it's actually speaking of another thing. I've heard many stories of people, I'm talking about the prayer movement as it's escalating across the earth at a rapid pace this last decade. So many people are taking hold of different expressions of it, raising up singers and musicians and prayer rooms all over the room different ways. But the amount of stories I've heard of the sovereign intervention where God spoke to them in a dream or in a supernatural way, those are like little expressions of this verse 1. The Lord is waking up his people to this reality. It's happening right now. I mean, he woke me up, I remember. When the Lord spoke prophetically through Bob Jones back in 30 years ago, 24-7 prayer singers and musicians praying for Israel, I remember going, what? That was like, ugh. He said, you live in Grandview, singers and musicians praying for Israel. We live somewhere else. They're like, no, not singers, musicians, not Israel, not Grandview. No, I just want a normal church that loves Jesus and the Lord. But it was so dramatic. And some of you know the story. He was interrupting and waking me up. And I've heard the story multitudes of times around the world. It's on the Lord's heart to disturb, to interrupt, to intervene, to get the attention, to get people to do this. This meaning the prayer ministry. I don't mean our version of it, but I mean the prayer ministry, a thousand different versions worldwide. Verse 2, the angel says to me, what do you see? Now this is an interesting dynamic in Zechariah 4. Three times, I'm getting ahead of myself. Three times in 14 short verses, the angel says to Zechariah, in essence, what do you see? And Zechariah's going, I can't get it. He goes, think, Zechariah, what is it? What's God saying? And then three times, Zechariah said, what does it mean? So it starts off verse 2. The angel says, what is it that you're seeing? Zechariah goes, uh, olive tree. And then Zechariah goes, what's that mean? The angel goes, what does it mean? Zechariah, well, if I knew what it meant, I wouldn't have asked you. Then the angel gives him two exhortations. Then in verse 11, Zechariah says, what's it mean? Verse 12, he says, what's it mean? Verse 13, the angel says, what does it mean? I mean, it's quite a back and forth, and I have all that on the, in the notes, but it's a human dynamic. It's like, tell me what it means, angel, angel. Do you wrestle? Well, I'm going to move on unless I get myself in trouble here. I'm just, just quoting the scripture. So verse 2, it starts this strange interaction where they each say their part three times in 14 verses. It goes back and forth. Verse 2, the angel says, what do you see? Zechariah, he says, well, I'm looking because he knows by the question that he should know the answer. That's the point. He's a priest. He's not just a prophet. He's a priest. He's looking at something related to the temple and he knows the temple. He understands the symbolism. He's going, hmm, I'm looking. I was looking. I'm just adding into there. The angel, the angel goes, he goes, I'm looking. There's a lamp stand. Okay. That lamp stand is in the Jewish temple in the holy place. Good. What else do you see? Okay. There's a bowl on the top. Okay. It's good. What else? Verse 3 is the key point because verse 3 is really emphasized for verse 11 to 14. He goes, two olive trees. That's the unusual part. The lamp stands the centerpiece, but it's the two olive trees. There's no olive trees in the temple. How did those olive trees get in there? Verse 4, so I asked the angel, what are the olive trees? The angel said, don't you know? He says, no, I don't. What are the olive trees? Now, Zachariah got something right. He discerns that's the issue with the olive trees. So he locks into it because in verse 11 again, he goes, Hey, those olive trees, let's get back to that. And the olive trees, that's the point of the message because they speak of God's supernatural supply is going to anoint broken and weak humans and supernaturally be a supply to them that they, by the grace of God would be an inspiration and a supply to the body of Christ or to the purpose of God. Okay, let's go top of page 38. So now the interpreting angel, when Zachariah says, no, I don't know. The interpreting angels now going to give two oracles. Now, some commentators say that the angel just changes the subject and it gives him two oracles. Verse six and seven is the first prophetic oracle or message. You can use the word message. Then verse eight, nine and 10 is the second message. So I've read a number of commentaries on this and they go, the angel just ignores the dialogue and gives two exhortations. I don't think that's the right answer. I think the angel is explaining what the olive trees are about, but he's connecting the olive trees to the leaders that are building the temple because that's where it's going. He's giving an exhortation to the leaders who are building the temple. He's answering, they are the olive trees and he makes it real clear in verse 14. These two exhortations, they basically say the same thing, just they approach it a little bit different. They tell Zerubbabel, God's going to help you. Don't look to man as your primary resource. Look to the spirit and you will succeed. That's an essence with both exhortations. And then we find out Zerubbabel is, the trees are symbolic of him and Joshua. The whole time the angel is actually talking about one of the olive trees. Now Zachariah doesn't quite get it yet. Paragraph D, let's look at the first oracle or the first prophetic message. Paragraph D, middle page 38. So Zerubbabel, I mean Zachariah, he's now in his fifth vision. He fell asleep. He's been awakened by the angel. The angel is, you know, pressing him for a response. He's like, okay, I'm not getting it yet. And he goes, well, you need to think. You need to think. And there's a spiritual principle behind this. The reason the angel would not tell him right off immediately, because the Lord requires us to search it out with all of our strength. I'm talking about biblical truths. And in the process of searching it out, when we care so much that we lay other things aside to go after it, in that process of hunger, he gives us the answer. We don't earn the answer, but we show ourselves as hungry and valuing the answer in a way that we should value it. And the Lord says, well, since you value the answer that much and you've searched it out, now I will tell you, that's really the principle behind this. So verse six, the first message. The power of God's going to prevail over all the obstacles. There were many obstacles. Not enough money, not enough people. The people were discouraged. The government was resisting them. There was a drought, economic crisis, spiritual crisis in the land. Zerubbabel's like, I have so many problems and you tell me we're going to succeed this time after we failed the last time? We were more excited the last time. The first time we were filled with zeal, now there's kind of lethargy and been there, done that mentality. It's a lot harder to start up the second time. So verse six, it's in the vision still. The angel says, go tell Zerubbabel tomorrow morning when you get up, go knock on his door after you visit Joshua and after you, you know, receive all these three visitors coming from Babylon in chapter six, that we'll look at that in a little while. He goes, go tell Zerubbabel this, not by might, not by power, by my spirit. Now that's one of the most famous Old Testament passages. Did you know that passage was given by an angel or from the Lord related to the building of the temple and the prayer movement? Now we can use it for anything, but in its context, it was for the prayer movement in that hour. Now, again, the principle works outside of that, but the Lord is going to give supernatural resource. The whole church in the earth will be, have a culture of prayer before the Lord returns. The Lord is restoring the altar of incense on a global level, the prayer ministry and the holy place. He is doing that and there's no way it's going to happen except for supernatural intervention. That's the point. It's going to take the power of God on a global level to raise up this altar of incense, this lamp stand worldwide, just like it did in Zerubbabel's in that day. So this is a eschatological message for this hour of history. Not by power, not by might, there's going to be supernatural intervention. There's going to be dreams, visions, supernatural finances. There's going to be a supply to make this thing happen. Then he says, who are you, O great mountain? Now the mountain was the mountain of obstacles. The angel says, you go tell Zerubbabel this, instead of going, oh, the problems, prophesy to the problems and say, who are you, O mountain of obstacles? Move. In the name of Jesus, move out of the way. Before you, Zerubbabel, this mountain, this, of all the obstacles, they will become a level plain, meaning all the big rocks in the path will be moved, all of them. That's what it means it becomes a plain, because right now the temple site had a heap of rubble from Solomon's temple being destroyed, you know, 70, 80 years ago. There's that heap of rubble still there. It's not all moved and they're thinking, what? And the Lord says, I'm going to help and it's going to be moved. It will become a plain. You shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace. Okay, look at number two, not by power, not by might. What that means, it doesn't mean we don't do our human work. It means it's not our primary resource. Zerubbabel still had to do the work. Verse 10, he could not despise his small work in that day. He still had to be diligent with his work. But what this is really saying is, and I take this in such encouragement here at IHOP, no matter how hard we work, our work will never be enough to get the job done. We need the supernatural element or we can't succeed. Our work, as valuable as it is in the process, and God requires our little work. Little mean, I mean the work is diligent, but our efforts achieve so little, but he requires that we exert ourself in the effort. And he says, your efforts are insufficient to get the job done. I know that, so I will cause supernatural supply on your little work. You give one unit, I'll give you 10, and together we'll get it done. But I won't give you the 10 units if you don't give the one. Because some people go the other extreme. They go, well, if the Lord doesn't do it, it's not going to be done. That's true, but he does it in context to us being faithful in the small and difficult task of moving those rocks out of the way and building that building. He says it's going to be done by my spirit. Not only will the spirit intervene, but it takes a relationship with the Holy Spirit by the workers. One of the big challenges here at the House of Prayer is we can get into the routine and the mundane of keeping the fire on the altar, the worship sets going, and it's easy to be in the prayer room or to be leading the worship and not even be connecting with the Holy Spirit. We can't do it disconnected to the Holy Spirit. So it's not just the Holy Spirit's going to help, but the Holy Spirit is going to build it on the basis of relationship and connectivity to Him that we take time to actually talk to Him through the process of the labor. It's critical. Paragraph 5. Well, the mountain that Zerubbabel is to speak to are the obstacles. There's four main obstacles right there in Zerubbabel's way, at least. There could be more. Number one obstacle was the political resistance. The Samaritans representing the Persian government, political and civil opposition. That's a big one. Number two, I think the biggest obstacle of all is the internal obstacle of the workers themselves, lethargy, spiritual passivity, getting so familiar with the task that the task doesn't excite us anymore, and the task was never meant to excite us. Interacting with the person in the task was always supposed to be the way, it's by my spirit you will do it, interacting with me. But it's easy to do the task without interacting with the person, and the task is so laborsome, passivity sets in. People say, I've heard it over the years, I'm burnt out. What they're trying to say is I'm overworked, but mostly what, sometimes that's true, people are overworked, mostly they're working disconnected to the spirit. That's why they're burnt out. Really they're not burnt out, they're bored. And working hard when you're spiritually bored really wears you out. We have to do it connected to the spirit. There was an economic crisis, and there was the desolation of the city, the city was still in ruins. I mean there's rubble everywhere, there's not infrastructure, the running water, the air condition, the Starbucks coffee, none of it's there. There's no IHOP web stream kind of in the background to kind of give you a little shot in the arm. I come home almost every night. My wife's there in the kitchen or in the room, and that web stream's on almost every day. She goes, I just love it, I just go on vacation, it's on all the time. She's being inspired, and I'm still watching what's happening back home. Anyway, top of page, no forget that. I'm sitting there, she's got tears in her eyes, I'm going, wait, they've got to do the transition, they know I'm not there, do that, you know we've trained on that transition, do it different. I answer, would you be quiet, I'm enjoying the Lord right now. I go, they know, they think I'm not there. Anyway, number eight, I'm meddling, I'm in the flesh now, let's get back to the Word. The mountain, number eight, shall become a plain. It says that Zerubbabel shall bring forth the capstones, number nine. The capstone was the ceremonial kind of dedication. When the whole building's done, you put the capstone, you know, you put that final stone dedicated to the glory of God, you know that capstone. And so when he said, you're going to put the capstone in place, that means you're going to be there when the whole thing is finished. The people aren't going to quit again, the Persian government's not going to intervene, you're not going to run out of money. Spiritually, the compromise is not going to set in, that's not going to happen. I'm going to help you, because again, their labors are not enough, we have to do the labor, but it's bigger than our labors to get this job done. I heard one preacher say, God's going to do something that can't be blamed on man. He's going to do something so, him, that though we are dedicated, it's so much bigger than our dedication and efforts could produce. Number ten, this is the prayer dialogue. This is prayer, I call it the grace dialogue. You're going to build it with shouts of grace. It's not a one-time deal, you know, on the opening day, grace, grace, got that done. No, we're going to build it day by day, whatever assignment in the kingdom, not just the prayer movement, whatever assignment you have, we build it through the grace dialogue. We're speaking to the obstacles, we're calling on God, we're interacting with the Spirit. Beloved, you can't skip that phrase right there, that's that interaction with God, day by day, that's part of what it means, by my Spirit. By my Spirit means the Spirit will give supernatural supply and inspiration, but it also means interaction with the Spirit, talking to Him. We talk to Him, Lord, help us train the singer's musician, help us with the money, help us order the organization, help us in our family life, help us to connect with you in the Word. It's constantly interacting with the Lord. The Lord called that abiding in the vine. When Jesus said, abide in me, abide in the vine, I'd take the word abide out and I'd just say, talk to me. If you put the word in John 15, talk to me, instead of abide in me, you'll have about 90% of abiding in place. Talk to me, abide in me and I'll abide you, and I'll talk back to you, I'll inspire you, but talk to me each step of the way. Just that little conversation that goes through, it's the shout of grace, it's not a one-time declaration at a big conference, it is a lifestyle, the grace dialogue is what I like to call it. Paragraph E, we already covered this in the last session, but I just have to mention it again. It's this, Tadani, the governor of Samaria, he is accusing Joshua that very moment, that very day or within that time frame, and God is setting up a situation where right then, the whole situation changes. So look at three things that have happened already in this night vision. I don't have this in the notes, but chapter 1, 12, the angel of the Lord, he intercedes for pockets of mercy, breakthrough of mercy, at the beginning of the evening. Chapter 3, verse 2, he rebukes Satan. Chapter 4, verse 7, we cry grace, grace to the mountain, there's three intercessory activities happening in one night, related to the Lord, and the next period of time, I mean, days and weeks later, the economic situation changes, the political opposition changes, so the angel that prayed in chapter 1, 12, the rebuking of Satan in chapter 3, verse 2, and the leaders crying out grace, grace in chapter 4, verse 7, those three together, all happening in one night, the indication of those, and the circumstance really did change. I think that's amazing. Paragraph 5, the second oracle, says about the same thing as the first, a little bit different angle. Number 9, verse 9, the hands of Zerubbabel, that laid the foundation, he will finish it. Again, the people won't quit, this is a big concern. If you read it once, you think, well, so what, he finished it three years, so what? No, he's thinking, no, they quit on me last time, I kind of quit too, the opposition mounted up, we ran out of money, we lost interest, and the second time is a lot harder than the first time with the same company of people to start it again. Because now you've got the been there, done that attitude, that's going to really play into it, and the Lord says, I want you to be assured, you will finish. It says, your hands laid the foundation, look at number 1, this is important, for those of you that are really going to break this passage down, the foundation was laid twice. The foundation was laid by Zerubbabel, undoubtedly, 536 B.C., we see it in Ezra 310, and 16 years later, it's laid again in 520. So, after 16 years, that foundation was put in place, but all the, it was not maintained, I don't know how it all happened, but there was a second laying of it that's clear. Top of page 40, verse 8 to 10, the angel asks the question, this is really critical, verse 10 is the key part of the exhortation for these two olive tree leaders, or the olive tree type leaders. He says, I've got a question. Because Zerubbabel is one of those olive tree leaders, he doesn't know it, but Zechariah is going to get that in just a minute from the angel. He goes, here's the question of the day, the angel says. Here's the premier question of the hour. Who is despising the day of small things? The temple's real little, the work is real hard, nobody wants to do it, who values that work? Who despises it? Well, the answer was, the people despised it. They go, I don't want to mess with that, but God valued it. What the angel was saying is, Zerubbabel, your workers despise the work, they don't value it, they think it's stupid, it's not getting anywhere, it's not getting anything done. But God has a very different opinion than they have, and that's the revelation of verse 10. For these seven rejoice. Now the seven we see in a moment are the seven eyes of the Lord. We saw these seven eyes of the Lord back in the chapter before, chapter 3 verse 9, we see the eyes of the Lord again. God rejoices to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. And so there's full encouragement, the angel said, these eyes, they see everything in the earth. They don't miss anything. They see your enemies, they see your resistance, they see your discouragement, these eyes see everything, and with all of the knowledge, the eyes are rejoicing, they're not discouraged like you are. We only see a little bit, and we get discouraged. But the eyes of the Lord see everything, and they're rejoicing. He said they are so glad, the eyes of the Lord, which means the heart of God, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel's hand. What does this mean? Number one, a plumb line is an instrument you only use in the early days of a construction project. When it's time to buy the carpet and lay the carpet, you don't have a plumb line measuring the walls to see if they're straight, you only do that in the early stages. So what he's saying is, you can use the, in and out, I mean a parallel, it's good to see the shovel in Zerubbabel's hand, he's digging the hole for the initial foundation, that sort of thing. When he said plumb line, he was saying the work is nowhere close to done, nobody can see where this is going, but the fact that you're working on it when it's so broken and little in the early stages, the Lord says, that delights my heart, Zerubbabel, that you're doing this. Now when it says the plumb line was in Zerubbabel's hands, now I want to talk to you for a moment. There's a moment when you take the plumb line into your hands. The task is little, nobody showed up, there's no money, the nations aren't all paying attention, nobody's paying attention. Matter of fact, people are laughing at you, but you take the plumb line. And when you take that plumb line, you take that shovel, you take the hammer in your hand to start the work, what you're doing, like Zerubbabel, he took ownership of the task when he took that plumb line. There are many in this room, you have the spirit of Zerubbabel, you're taking ownership of the prayer movement in this generation. You're taking ownership, even in another dimension, of God's purpose for the city of Jerusalem, because the building of the prayer movement and the destiny of Jerusalem are two sides of one coin. I remember how confused I was when near 30 years ago, Bob Jones came with the prophetic word, God's going to raise up singers and musicians. And through singers and musicians, he said some other things, there's going to be a worldwide prayer movement for Israel and Jerusalem. I thought, what? What do singers and musicians got to do with the worldwide prayer movement for Jerusalem? That doesn't even make sense. If we're going to have prayer, it's for the harvest to come in. Beloved, the great harvest of the nation of souls, the perfecting of the church, and the destiny of Jerusalem, and the end time prayer movement are all one subject in God's heart. They're deeply connected. That was a new idea. I just thought, what are you talking about? Well, a number of you, you have that spirit of Zerubbabel. I'm going to pray that over you in just a few moments. You take ownership. Doesn't matter how small the work is. Doesn't matter the fact that nobody shows up to work. There is no money. Nobody's applauding you. That's how Zerubbabel was. I can picture him. Out there on the heap of rubble, sitting there one day on the rock, nobody showed up to work that day. Zerubbabel goes, well, how you doing? Zechariah comes walking out and says, how you doing, Zerubbabel? I don't know. People are getting discouraged again. Well, the Lord wants you to, you see that heap of rock? Just start shouting grace to it. Like what? Shout grace to it. Okay. No. Right now. Now I'll do it in my private prayer time. No. Speak to it right now, and every single day do this. Zerubbabel says, well, you know, I believe in prayer, but I mean, come on. Nobody's showing up to work. Beloved, just speak grace over that little hole you're building the foundation in that nobody showed up yet, and there is no semblance of a house of prayer or the vision that God's told you. You're in the plumb line season. Shout grace to it. Take hold of it. Don't back away. That's the spirit of Zerubbabel. There's people with that Psalm 132 vow burning in their spirit, and they're building the house of prayer in the city and the part of the earth where God's put them. Paragraph two. God's eyes. They see everything worldwide. They see our enemies. They see our needs, financially, emotionally, They see the obstacles. They see our tears. The eyes of the Lord sees your love. The work is little, but your love is big, and He sees your love. He values your work. There's times you don't. He said, forget it. The people around you wag their head. The Lord says, I value it, though you don't. The question of the hour is, who despises this? And God says, I don't. You might, but I don't. That's the message. Paragraph four. It was four months earlier. Haggai gave the same message. Just four short months earlier to the same people, to the same leaders. In Haggai chapter two, Haggai asked them, Who is left among you who saw the temple way back in 586 B.C.? That's when it was torn down. Who saw the temple a long time ago? There's these little boys, ten years old. Now they're 80 or 90. I don't know. I don't know exactly, but these little guys go, I remember hanging around at the temple when my dad would go. I was just a boy at the temple. The Solomon's Temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was awesome. Now they look at this little, this little nothing building. I mean, it's like our little trailer, you know? It's like, whoa! And these old guys, 89 years old, whatever. I don't know how old they were, but they said, We were boys and we saw the grandeur of that temple. This is like, ah! This tortures us to see how little and ugly this is. In Haggai two, the prophet said, In comparison with what was before, is it nothing in your eyes? That's the question of the day. What does the work look like in your eyes? If your only standard of success is Reinhard Bonnke, and everything less than a million people at your outrage is failure. Beloved God looks at the faithfulness of our heart to measure our success, not the size of our impact. I like big impact, but 99% of the body of Christ, by themselves, in an individual way, they do not have a big impact. They're not supposed to. Collectively, we do. But we can have a big heart, we can have big love, and that's what God sees. We get focused on the impact, God's focused on the heart that's engaged in agreement with Him. The key issue, number five, how do you see? Because in the plumb line season, if you only see how little it is, you'll despise it. You'll let go of the plumb line and give up. But if we can see that God's rejoicing, Zerubbabel, I love the work you're doing. The Lord says, oh, Zerubbabel, come on, Lord, be honest. There's nothing. Beloved, when Billy Graham stands before the Lord one day, the office, you know, he's filled up stadiums hundreds of times, I guess. I don't know anybody that's filled up more stadiums in the last 50, 60 years than Billy Graham. Billy Graham stands before the Lord. Jesus isn't going to say, Father, I think that's Billy Graham. Oh, my goodness, look. Not going to happen. God's not moved by Billy Graham's crowds. God's moved by the size of Billy Graham's heart, not his crowds. When you're as big as the Genesis 1 God is, it's really hard to impress Him with big. We can just let go of big. I mean, when you do Genesis 1, we had a thousand in our conference. We had five. We had 20. We had a hundred. Lord, wow. I made a hundred billion galaxies in one moment. Do you think I'm impressed by a hundred or a thousand or a million at your conference? I made a hundred billion galaxies. I want you to love me. I don't want you to impress me. I want you to love me. I want a big heart. I'll take care of how big the impact is. That's my business. Your business is to rejoice with me and be diligent. It's a hard thing for us to do. I can preach it well. Tomorrow morning I wake up and I have to go back to Zechariah 4. I find number 6 here interesting. The work they're doing in the Zerubbabel stage, because after Zerubbabel builds the building, then they fill it with singers, musicians, and then they have to maintain and sustain the people connecting with God while they're offering the sacrifices and ministering to the Lord. But in the work season of just the building, look, they're moving heavy stones, cutting down trees to build the walls. That's with the building of the house of prayer. I mean, it was labor. Look at Haggai 1. This is amazing. This has to do with God rejoicing in our small labors. Here's what God said through the prophet. Go walk up that mountain. Well, Lord, don't take me a half hour to get up there. That's fine. Walk up there and bring your tools with you, okay? Walk up the mountain, bring your tools, cut a tree down. You know, five hours later, oh, that was a big tree. The axe was dull. Carry the tree down the hill. Nobody will help me. Get some help and carry the tree. Two days later, like, oh. The Lord says, you know what I think about that? I have great pleasure in your work. How could you have pleasure in me begrudgingly walking up that hill with a dull axe, cutting a tree down, carrying it down, couldn't get no help, and the Lord says, because you're obeying me. I have so much pleasure in it. Get your eyes where my eyes are in your heart exchange with me. Page 41. So, Zerub, the angel, has really given the answer on who are the two olive trees, what are they, I mean. By these two exhortations, the angel was saying, they're the ones building the temple who are discouraged, but I'm going to help them supernaturally. Zechariah, do you get it yet? I just gave you giant hints. It's the guys that need supernatural help and encouragement to finish the temple. Yes. Zechariah, you're a priest. Who might they be? It's Joshua and Zerubbabel. Zechariah goes, verse 11, who are they? Well, first, he says, what are they? In verse 12, he says, this is the third time, because first in verse 4, then in verse 11, now in verse 12, who are they? What's going on? The angel. Look at it. Verse 13, don't you know yet? My favorite part. No. No. Tell me who these guys are. Zerubbabel and Zechariah. I've just described the job description of discouraged leaders who need supernatural help. I gave you their name. That's what we're talking about. The olive trees. Zerubbabel. Again, number C, letter C. The Lord does not normally give us deeper insight if we don't search it out. Now, we don't earn it by searching, but we position ourselves by hunger to get more, because we are so hungry for more, and the Lord gives to the hungry. Paragraph E, 500 years later, John the Apostle comes along. 500 plus years. He has more insight on these two olive trees. He gets who they are. They're two witnesses. Revelation 11. They have power. They have miracles. They prophesy. What he's really saying is God has anointed them to inspire and instruct and help the purpose of God. To help the others, God has used them in an unusual way to be a source of strength to others. The olive trees are anointed ministries. They are a conduit, a resource, to give inspiration to others and strength. So John describes it all out. But John describes, look what it says in verse 4 of Revelation 11. John describes their close relationship with the Lord. He said, these two olive trees stand before the God of the earth. Now we looked at the last session and we have it again on the notes, the repetition in paragraph 1. To stand before the Lord is an official designation of ministry to the Lord. But here's the key point. These olive tree ministries, their source is in their closeness to the Lord. They are before Him. There is no other way for the oil to flow if they're not before Him. It's not that they used to be before Him. They are before Him in the present tense. They are those that live in close connection with the Lord. There is no other way to do it. Top of page 42. In paragraph G, look at number 1. Just bring this to a close here in a moment. Now, Zerubbabel, Zechariah, I mean the prophet, saw something very unusual. Because in the tabernacle or the temple, it was the tabernacle in the days of Moses and it was the temple in the days of Solomon. Because the tabernacle, it was a tent. And then Solomon built a building and it was a temple. So those are really the same concept. Just two different time frames. But the lampstand was in the tabernacle or temple. In the holy place. But here's what happened. And Zechariah, the prophet who was a priest, he knows this. Every morning, the priest had to go get olive oil every morning and every evening and they had to put olive oil in those lamps so they could burn. Because they were to burn night and day. The fire is not to go out. So they would burn them and they put more oil every morning, every night. But here's the issue that is obvious to Zechariah. There was a human process in making the oil. Number 1, they had to go to an olive tree and pick the olives. Right? Took a little bit of work. There was no olive oil stores. They had to crush the olive oil. Make oil. Then they had to take the oil and hand feed it into the lamps. This lampstand is in the holy place. It was a lot of human effort. It's fine. The priest did it. But here's the point. In the middle of paragraph 1, Zechariah saw something unusual. There was no human labor. The oil was self-generated or by the Holy Spirit generated is what I'm trying to say. Paragraph 2, the oil was automatic. The oil was continuous. The oil was abundant. It kept flowing from these branches into the receptacles. And Zechariah goes, there's no human process. The Lord is on that. The point is to get the job done in the end time church, in the end time purpose of God in Israel and Jerusalem. It's going to take a help and a supply that is far beyond our necessary but weak efforts. Our efforts are critical but they're very small. We bring one unit to the table of work. God gives 10 units of supply. What Zechariah was seeing, there's going to be an unusual help from heaven to keep the oil flowing through these vessels. Now their one thing is to live before the Lord. They don't earn the oil by living before the Lord but they must live before him. And the Lord says, I'll bring money, inspiration, revelation, motivation. I will raise up men and women, old and young. They will be these oil tree vessels that will be a gift to my body who are across the world. Summary, paragraph I. The promise of the oil, the olive trees, was initially fulfilled by Zerubbabel and Joshua. They were the two olive trees. They were the vessels that God used to stir up the others and to be a supply. But again, it was bigger than them. It was a sovereign anointing on them. The greater fulfillment is in the two witnesses. Of course, Zerubbabel and Joshua were the two witnesses. They all point to the ultimate son of oil who is Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ. But I believe like Elijah's returning and there's a spirit of Elijah, I believe all over the earth the Lord is raising up lesser sons of oil. That's what the olive trees are called, sons of oil. Men and women, old and young. God's saying, I want those that will live before me and I am looking, my eyes are searching the earth to raise up sons of oil. But their power is not going to be in how clever they are. Their power isn't in their networking. Their power is not in their gifting. Their power is in not their might or their power. Their power is in their closeness to me. Paragraph J. Jesus' final teaching before the upper room. He teaches on the oil principle of Matthew 25. His final teaching, the leadership before the upper room. He says, go get oil. And he expands this invitation to whosoever, go get oil. You can be in the kingdom and be loved of God but be a foolish virgin. You're still in the kingdom but you're living foolish. Be wise by getting oil. Be sons of oil in this hour of history. Then the final thing I want to mention is that, you know, 50, 60 years later, whatever, in the book of Revelation, the Lord says, I want to add one more thing to that oil thing I gave you back in Matthew 25. The church of Ephesus, the mightiest church in the whole world in that generation, the mightiest church. Ephesus has eclipsed Jerusalem and even Antioch. I mean, it is the lampstand church of the earth. The Lord appears to John and says, go tell them. Their ministries are massive. They don't love me like they used to and I'm going to remove their lampstand if they don't. Because I don't want their influence if they're not imparting the value of loving me in their influence. He's not saying I'm penalizing them. I just don't want them to spread a spiritual DNA that is devoid of the value of living before me with oil. If they don't love me, I'm going to take away their influence. I'm going to remove their lampstand and that's a tie-in even to this reality. Amen. Let's just stand for a minute. I'm going to lead you in two things. Prayer. Two statements before the Lord. You don't have to stand. You can just do what you want. The rule of IHOP when we say stand, you don't have to. It's just like, you know, do what you want to do. I just want you to close your eyes for just a moment. Just so you're not distracted. The Lord is saying to Zerubbabel, I want to see the plumb line in your hand. God's saying I'm raising up men and women that will take ownership of this thing called the prayer movement and what God's doing in the city of Jerusalem. Take ownership of it. No matter how small and how little, nobody even pays attention to you. Take the plumb line, the shovel, the hammer. Take it. Say yes. There's a day when you say yes to that. There was a day in my own life where I took the plumb line. I said I'll do it. If nobody shows up, I'll do it. The Lord says good. That matters to me. Just talk to Him for a minute. Again, the prayer movement and the destiny of Jerusalem and the great harvest, they're all the same reality, in reality. And then the second thing is if you take the plumb line, you gotta be sons of oil. You gotta build it by living before Him. Not telling others, not sermons about it, not the remembrance that you're used to. We have to live before Him and interact with Him by the Spirit day in and day out. So it's a time to re-sign up. That's the message of Zechariah 4. And the Lord says I'll give you more than your work could ever produce. Your work is important, but I will go beyond your networking. I'll go beyond your gifting. And I'll make an impact in and through you that's bigger than your ability. So Holy Spirit, we say yes to you. We say yes. We take the plumb line and we say yes to be sons of oil. Men and women, old and young. You may be 15. You don't have to be 60 years old to be a son of oil. I want that spirit in my life. Now Holy Spirit, I just ask you to mark hearts right now. All over this building and people that hear this in other places. Mark sons of oil. Mark the people who take the ownership. They take the plumb line no matter how hard or how little. Come Holy Spirit. Just going to wait on Him for a moment. Come in your power right now Lord. Lord, commission people. Cause some to burn the bridge where there's no going back. The Lord says I want some of you to burn the bridge. Quit negotiating it. This is what I want. You've been asking me. This is what I want. Do it. Settle it. No matter how hard or how little it is. Live before me. Beloved, we don't need more networking. We don't need more 100 things. We need more connection with Jesus. We need more oil. Not bigger crowds and more networks. Although I appreciate networking. I actually do. But when there's a crisis in the earth for sons of oil, men and women who will live before the Lord. Now Lord, mark us. Come Holy Spirit. I ask for prophetic anointing for dreams and visions.