In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of not giving up and staying strong in the face of challenges. He uses the example of the people rebuilding the walls and facing attacks from enemies. The preacher then discusses a vision that Zechariah had, where he saw a solid gold lampstand with seven lights and two olive trees. The preacher also shares a personal story about a shy girl who had a vision of leading people from different nations in praising God. The sermon concludes with a reminder that it is the Holy Spirit who empowers and encourages us to overcome our mountains.

When Israel was in the land, they possessed it, the land of Palestine, after coming out of Egypt, and they possessed the land of the Joshua, and 12 tribes took their allotted acreage, and they were in the land as God had promised. Then there was a civil war after Solomon died, and it was divided into two kingdoms, still all Jews, but a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. Unfortunately, the northern kingdom, almost immediately upon the civil war, departed from God, set up idols. They were guilty of what's called syncretism. They syncretized and mixed together principles that were true from God with idolatrous principles. So they mixed the world with God, God with the world, Jehovah with Baal, Jehovah with Molech, and these other hideous gods. God warned them, he sent prophets, and the prophets said, turn back, don't do this, or God's judgment is gonna come upon you, and he'll thrust you out of the land, and you're gonna go into captivity. They wouldn't listen. They stoned the prophets. They rejected the messages of people like Hosea and others. Sure enough, the Assyrian Empire came in, conquered them, and tore the land apart. Took all the people, sent them all throughout the Assyrian Empire, left a few Jews, and then moved Assyrian Empire people into that land so that the land of Israel was now hybrid with all kinds of people in the north. You would think the southern kingdom would have seen that and said, we better watch our ways, but they didn't. Although they had better kings and some times of renewal, they began to drift away too, living from making money, cheating widows, taking advantage of orphans, sexual promiscuity. God sent prophets again and said, didn't you see what happened to your cousins in the north? Don't do this. But again, they rejected the word of the prophets, and God sent another empire. Now, the Assyrians had been conquered by the Babylonians, so a couple hundred years after the northern kingdom was conquered, now the southern kingdom was surrounded, and sure enough, the Babylonians not only came in, they not only conquered, they not only took people like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and sent them off to Babylon, but they knocked down the walls of Jerusalem, desecrated the temple, tore it apart, did abominable things in the temple, and the Holy of Holies, which was sacred to the Jewish religion, and just like God said through the prophets, there was weeping in the streets, and there was a terrible slavery that ensued. The people were tossed out, the land was left bereft of people, the grass began to overgrow, weeds, no crops, Jerusalem desolation, owls and animals inhabiting it. It was sad, but God had said before that southern kingdom went into captivity, that their captivity would only be for 70 years, and sure enough, as the Jewish people were spread, it's called the diaspora, they're spread all over the Babylonian empire, and then moved on from there, so there were Jewish people everywhere, and that's, by the way, where the synagogue began. There was no temple, there was no Jerusalem anymore, so they set up, once you get 10 men who were heads of family, you were allowed to set up a synagogue, which was kind of run by a rabbi, and there was a cantor who would lead the singing, but after 70 years, just like God promised, they were returned back to the land, but it happened this way. The Babylonians had been conquered by the Persian empire, and just supernaturally, God put it in the heart of Cyrus to say to the Jewish people, and to men like Ezra and Nehemiah, everybody who wants to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, which was sacred, everyone who wants to give up their job, move their families away, remember, 70 years is a long time. Many, many, many, many of the Jews had never seen Jerusalem. That generation had died out. Few old timers were left, so if you wanna go back, you can rebuild, I'm giving you an order, no one will bother you, you go back, in fact, I'll give you money to go back and rebuild the temple and re-inhabit Jerusalem and your sacred land. Well, it was hard to get people to go, because everybody was busy with life, making money, having children, and now some people are saying, who wants to go back to Jerusalem? What Jerusalem? No, sacred, holy city Jerusalem, where David reigned and Solomon reigned. This is the Jerusalem that David sang about in his psalms, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Very few went back, it's called the remnant. Couple thousand people went back, but it was a hard job, it was a very hard job. First of all, there was desolation and discouragement. 70 years had gone by, the temple was no more. They knew where the temple stood, but it had been destroyed. There were no walls to protect you, and in those days, every city had to have high walls, or else marauders would come in and do you harm, at night especially. But a remnant went back. They were led by a high priest whose name is either Joshua, or he's called Yeshua, his name was actually Jesus, because the Greek form of the name Joshua is Yeshua. What comes about is there was another man by the name of Zerubbabel. Joshua was the priest, but Zerubbabel was the governor. He was the one in charge of getting the people all together, come on, we gotta rebuild the temple, we gotta rebuild the walls, we gotta get this thing together. But they ran, they just, it was so hard. There were enemies. The Samaritans start to torment them. The land was down. The land was no longer with crops. And although they found the foundation where the temple was, and they started to rebuild it, when they thought of the temple that Solomon was rebuilding, had built, they thought, what are we doing? This is nothing. We're building a shack compared to this beautiful temple, but we don't have the money to pull this off. We're surrounded by enemies. There were insurmountable problems. Now, to help them, God sent prophets. Prophets were not only sent to correct, prophets in the Old Testament were sent to encourage and to build the people up and to tell the people, don't quit, don't give up, come on, we can do this. So God sent prophets like Zechariah, who came alongside to give the word of the Lord to people who were attacked. In fact, when they were rebuilding the walls, they had to have a tool in one hand and a sword in the other because the enemies would attack them right while they were working. Nobody could sleep at night. They had to be on watches because it was just impossible. And then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah. Let's look at it. Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, Zechariah says, as a man is wakened from his sleep. He was in some kind of daze or fog, and then this angel appeared to him and woke him up. He asked me, what do you see? And I answered, I see a solid gold lamp stand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it with seven channels to the lights. Also, there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left. And I asked the angel who talked with me, what are these, my Lord? And he answered, do you not know what these are? No, my Lord, I replied. So he said to me, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord Almighty. What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone. He'll finish the project to shouts of God bless it, God bless it. And so ends our text. Zechariah, this prophet who was sent to encourage the people in their hard task, he has a vision. The thing was already there, but he had to be wakened and stirred to see it. And what did he see? He saw a lampstand with seven lights in it. Above the lampstand was a huge bowl of oil because the only way the light can stay on is by the oil coming into it. And there were seven channels to each of the lights on the lampstand. So it would supply it and keep it going. And to show the unlimited supply of the oil, there wasn't like a tank of oil, there were two huge olive trees saying to him that not only is there oil coming now into those seven golden lamps, but there will always be oil because this is the supply that God has for Zerubbabel and his people. And then the word of the Lord came to the prophet through the angel and said, this is what you're to tell Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel, you're gonna overcome every obstacle. You will not be defeated. You will be victorious. My purpose for your life will be fulfilled. You will accomplish exactly what I put before you. But you must remember this, it will not be by might. It will not be by power. No human energy, no army is your strength. You will not depend on money. You will not depend on the Persian empire. You will not depend on the Samaritans. You will not depend on anything but the power of almighty God. For it is not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. And he encouraged the heart of Zerubbabel so that Zerubbabel could go back to the people and say, we can do this. Because when you're discouraged and you have a big problem before you, like a mountain, God will often regularly send a word of encouragement to you. Don't be afraid. Don't back up. Don't be discouraged. I'm gonna help you, but it won't be anything but supernatural help. It will not be by human might. It will not be by human power. It'll be by my spirit, saith the Lord. Well, what is the spirit of God? What is the spirit of the Lord? It's God in action. It's God's power flowing into human affairs. It's invisible. He is invisible. For now, putting the whole Bible picture together, the Father sent the Son, and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, and how God accomplishes anything on this earth for the fulfillment of his word and the building up of his kingdom is through the spirit of the living God. He is invisible, but he is all-powerful. He's the one who come and encourages you when you're down. He's the one that inspires a choir to sing. When you read the Bible, he's the only one who can open your mind so that you'll understand what you read. When you meet unlovely people, he's the only one who can put love in your heart. When people are trying you and tormenting you, he's the only one who can put patience in your life. He's the spirit of the living God. The Father sent the Son, and now the Son has sent his spirit. The Son accomplished what he was sent to do. He died on the cross as we were just rejoicing. He shed his blood so that our sins could be put away. But now he has ascended to the right hand of the Father, and one day he will return. How many believe that? Say amen. Jesus Christ is gonna return. But until then, nothing will be accomplished for the church, for you, or for me, except the word that was given to Zerubbabel. It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. I will be there for you. I will help you. It doesn't matter how big the mountain it is, how big the problem is, how discouraged you might feel. God says, I will overcome it, but you must know how I will do it. Not by you trying, not by you looking to the left or to the right. No, it'll be by my spirit, saith the Lord. I will get all the glory because when the mountain is brought down, you will say, I had nothing to do with it. I have to give God all the glory. Can we put our hands together and say amen? Suddenly, the word of the Lord comes to Zerubbabel or to the mountain that's in front of Zerubbabel. What was the mountain? The mountain of opposition, the mountain of discouragement, the mountain of no money, the mountain of sometimes discouraged people, the mountain of what a fear. And suddenly, this strange word comes. Who are you, O mountain? Who are you that would stand in front of the man of God? Who are you, O mountain? For you will come down and become a plain. You will not be a mountain blocking the man of God, the people of God. No, you will come down and be walked on and walked over by the people of God. The mountain becomes a highway to get where God wants us to be. Come on, let's say amen to that and praise God. He's the only one who can do that. Who are you, O mountain, to stand before Zerubbabel and the people of God? Zerubbabel represents the people of God and the discouragement that they were facing. For it's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. It's not by money. It's not by a college degree. The way that God accomplishes things in us and through us and to see his kingdom come has to be by the spirit of God. That's why when the church of Jesus Christ loses an emphasis on the Holy Spirit, the church dies. Without the Holy Spirit, the preacher becomes a dead sounding symbol. There's no conviction of sin. People can come in church and leave church and be living double lives because only the Holy Spirit can convict of sin, can draw you to the Savior. Do you realize how helpless we all are without the Holy Spirit? Come on, how many know how helpless we are without the Holy Spirit? For it's not by might nor by power. God is not looking for musical gifts. He's God. Why would he need your IQ or your musical gift? Can he use those things? Yes, but that's not what he's looking for. He's just looking for people who are available and will believe in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. In a day where people scarce believe in God and in churches now, the Bible's kind of being removed very slowly. There's a terrible erosion in biblical authority in churches. God still, his eyes are running around the earth looking for someone who will believe in the God of Zerubbabel. Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord. And with God, nothing is impossible. Who are you, O mountain? Who are you to stand before the one God has put his hand on, the one God has cleansed? Who are you, O mountain? You will come down and become a highway for him, but it won't be by might. It won't be by power. How will it be? By my spirit, sayeth the Lord. Well, what's that got to do with us? We're not rebuilding a city. We haven't been sent back to Jerusalem to build a temple. What's it got to do with us? What's the application for us today? It's this, we all face mountains. The mountain of a besetting sin. The mountain of fear. The mountain of financial need. The mountain of a wayward child. The mountain of marital difficulties. If you live a Christian life on planet earth, you face mountains. My wife and I have learned in the ministry, ministry is nothing else than facing mountains every day of your life. The Christian life is, how many of you, since you've been a Christian, year after year, it's just one mountain after another. Lift your hand, come on, lift your hand. Interior mountains, exterior mountains, but there's mountain. What does mountain stand for? Problem, difficulty, blocking the way, holding you back from what God wants you to be. Here's the lessons I want you to take home with you. Number one, that limitless supply, that unlimited supply of oil, which is a symbol of the spirit, was there all the time, but Zechariah had to be wakened to see it. He was a prophet, but he didn't see it. Which reminds me that all of us in the choir, my own life, deacons, people in the church, you can live your Christian life and be struggling, struggling, struggling, looking to the left, looking to the right, anxious, and you don't even know that available to you is the power of the Holy Spirit. Almighty God's power is available for all of us, but you have to have your eyes, as it were, open. God, use me, please, Lord, today so somebody's eyes are open. Do you know that the power of the Holy Spirit is available for you? That's why Jesus said, it's good for me that I go and I leave you after I'm crucified. It's good for you that I go. No, we don't want you to go. No, because unless I go, I won't be able to send the Holy Spirit, but when he comes, he will live in you. He'll be around you. He'll bring down mountains for you. So we live many times eking out, scratching out a little existence. We have a little drop of joy when God says joy, unspeakable and full of glory. We have little momentary peace instead of the deep peace that God promised through the Holy Spirit. We live on crumbs when God has a 10-course meal for us because our eyes aren't open to go and say, God, give me all that you promised. It's not by might nor by power, so what am I struggling for? Come, Holy Spirit. Be what you're supposed to be to me. Secondly, it's so hard to live without depending on the arm of flesh, and that's why the word comes to Zerubbabel with a negative at the beginning. Not by might, not by power. Don't you look at that. Don't you depend on him. Forget the Persian empire. Forget the money you have in your wallet or in your pockets. That's not your answer. Thank God for the money. Thank God for the education. Thank God for the job. Thank God for everything, but in the end, Jehovah Jireh is our provider. Come on, let's put our hands together. That's the one we have to keep our eyes on. Years ago, I heard a preacher say something at lunch to me. He said, you know, when I get to your church, I'd love to, if you have me preach, I'd love to preach this famous sermon. He's telling me, he's kind of full of himself kind of guy, and he says, I'm gonna preach this sermon because it works, and when he said it works, I remember I was sitting on Seventh Avenue when he said it works like a sword went through my heart. No sermon works. God works. Come on, come on. How many say amen? God works. A song doesn't work. A song doesn't work. A song can make you emotional, but the only thing that can minister to you is the Holy Spirit going through the choir members. That's why we have new choir members in here. I haven't had a chance to say hello to you, but you're new choir members that joined the choir, welcome to the choir, but we interviewed them, and we talked to them because we wanna know how they live, and do they really love Jesus? Why? Because the only way the choir can be a blessing is through the power of the Holy Spirit, and how can the Holy Spirit work through them if they're living double lives, or don't really love God, or they wanna show off their talent, rather than saying all the glory goes to God, but when they sang this morning, didn't the Holy Spirit anoint them? Can we thank God for anointing them and helping them? They're gonna make a new CD project later on in the fall. It's just music unless the Holy Spirit helps them. It's just music. Music's not gonna change anyone, but the Holy Spirit comes. It's not by might nor by power. Lastly, mountains only come down through the power of the Holy Spirit. How well do you know the Holy Spirit? He's as much His person as the Father is and the Son. How familiar are we with the Holy Spirit? Does He speak to you? Do you trust His power? Are you sensitive to His voice? Do you and I look for His empowerment every day of our lives, or are we struggling and struggling, and then just when an emergency comes, we cry out, oh God, help me, I'm sinking, because the promise is that mountains will come down. Mountains will come down. I couldn't help but think, forgive these two personal references to my wife and I, I couldn't help but think as I saw her leading the choir. You know, when she was little, she was very, very, very, very, very shy, painfully shy. It doesn't happen now, but when she was real little, her hands would sweat in social situations. When I fell in love with her and I would hold her hand, it would just go, slip right off of there. Whatever happened to that little hand? Painfully shy. She used to cry to me when God started to bless the choir. Jim, what do I have to do this for? We're singing at Radio City Music Hall or Madison Square Garden, well, let's go back to the music hall or Carnegie Hall. We did her first outside concert the choir did. I don't wanna talk. I don't want the microphone. I don't wanna have to say something. I said, Carol, after the first song, you have to greet the people. All you have to do is say hi, bye. That's all you have to say. No, I can't do that. I just wanna do the music. It's her mountain. The person you see up here now is not the person that I knew as a little girl. It's not the person that started with nine voices. But when she was a little girl, the Holy Spirit knew all about that mountain because we all have structural mountains, don't we? Aren't we all a little bent out of shape? Everyone who's bent a little bit out of shape, just bend your arm up just like this a little bit. Keep it bent because that's how we are. When she was a little girl, she was making a bed in her parents' home. I thought of it just now. I wasn't planning to say this. She saw herself as a little girl standing in front of people of all different colors, just like you were today. I just wept. She saw herself leading hundreds of people, all different colors, leading them. She was eight, nine, 10, 11 years old, something like that. The shyest of the shy. You couldn't get her to talk. And here she was leading all the people and they were praising God and they were from every nation and every tribe and every tongue. Oh, mountain, who are you that you will stand in front? Can we just put our hands together and thank God for how he encourages us? And I used to try to be her Zechariah and I would tell her, don't quit, don't give up. Why would God show you that if he wasn't gonna help you? Why would God do that? It was just like a second or a little two seconds of like a vision. We all have mountains and we gotta depend on the Holy Spirit to bring them down, not get overwhelmed. No, the Spirit puts boldness in you. You're coming down, oh, mountain. No, no, you're coming down. That's why God says, oh, mountain, who are you to stand in front of the one I have put my hand on, the one I have cleansed? No, you're coming down, mountain. All my life has been mountains. That's all I've ever known. A lot of years ago when we were in our previous facility, I was going through a very, very difficult time in my life. Trying to pastor, trying to start other churches, try to help oldest girl, as some of you have read about in my book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Carol's book, he's been faithful. We went through a long trial with my oldest girl who now is a pastor's wife. But she got away from us, got away from God. It was a hard, hard time, very, very hard. When your oldest girl who you love like your right arm is not there at Christmas time and you don't know where she is, that's not easy. Then my wife got sick and had to have surgery and then she was all hormonally thrown off so she wasn't herself. I felt so alone. My father-in-law would call me on Sunday mornings and pray sometimes, Jim, go to church. I can't. I'm telling you the truth, I tell him I can't. And he would say, no, you're gonna go. You gotta go, you gotta minister to the people. It's about the people, it's not about you. Well, it was hard. But you've all been there. I'm not asking you to feel sorry for me. We've all been there. So one day, I just had it in my heart and I told the people, next Sunday, we're gonna stay through the whole day. I'm gonna stay through the whole day. Whoever wants to stay with me, stay with me. I think we were having three services then, 11, three, and maybe six, something like that. So I said, I'm not gonna leave the sanctuary. Once the first meeting begins, I'm staying through to the end. I didn't tell the people what was going on with me. Nobody knew. I definitely wouldn't be telling the people what Carol was going through. So I just said, come and pray, those who want. So I don't know, maybe 100, 120, 130 people when the first service ended, they just stayed there. And we just sat in the front or knelt and we had someone playing or a track went on and we just, just waiting on the Lord. It's good to wait on the Lord. And when you're weak, remember, they that wait upon the Lord shall what? Because as you wait, the Holy Spirit begins to work. You can't rush and have the Holy Spirit work with you. A church can't rush. You can't rush God. So I'm just sitting there and broken, as broken as you could be, as broken as man as I've ever been, probably. So after the second service, I'm still there praying. We had the service, people left, we're still there. And suddenly I'm sitting in my seat in the front and there's some people around me and the mountain so overwhelmed me that I couldn't pray. Do you ever have a mountain get so big you can't even pray for the mountain to be removed? Come on, anybody can relate to that? I mean, heartbroken, troubled in my mind, pouring out for the people and I keep reminding myself, don't make it about yourself, make it about the people. Christ died for the people. You're the shepherd of the sheep. It's about the sheep, it's not about the shepherd. So I'm doing my best, but I'm hurting. So I hear a voice behind me, like the second row. We had pews there, we didn't have seats. And I hear this voice just worshiping God. It was strange. There was a mystical, anointed quality to it that was like, what is that? Who is that? But then I got back to try to pray, but I couldn't pray. This is just mountain, mountain, mountain. It was so big, I can't tell you. I thought it would run over me, I thought I'd be killed. Suddenly, this person, whether he was a man or whether he was an angel, I don't know. But if he was an angel, he was a black angel. And there are black angels. Taking some human form or maybe it was some visitor. I never saw him before, I never saw him afterward. Trust me, I tried to find him. He stepped out of his seat and he stood in front of me. And he pointed at me, I could see him through my tears. And he said, oh mountain, who are you to stand in front of this man? Mountain, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you're coming down. Oh mountain, and when he said it, it was electrifying. All my discouragement, boop, gone. All my fear, gone. It was, oh no, God is alive. God is on the scene. It's not by might nor by power. Come on, let's just thank God, let's thank God. But you gotta seek for that. You can't get it with a quickie religion. If you got a mountain facing you here today, I'm gonna pray with you and if you wanna stay until the 12 o'clock service, I'll stay with you till the 12 o'clock service. What kind of pastor would I be? I can't stay and pray with you. Because I know what it is to face mountains. My wife had to face some more mountains this week. Different ways, attacks of the devil, mountain this, mountain that. We face more mountains than the Alps. But they're all gonna come down. Who are you, oh mountain? See, that's what the Holy Spirit puts in you. Not oh, ah, ah, but who are you, oh mountain? Where do you think you come from? That you're gonna stop the purposes of God? No, I don't know how he'll work it out, but it's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, I am bringing that mountain down. But listen, you gotta seek and wait and open your heart to the Holy Spirit. Some of you are worshiping too much just with your mind. The Holy Spirit doesn't go in your mind. He renews your mind. Where he lives and where he works is in your heart. The Bible talks about the love of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It's your heart. The choir is effective when they sing from their hearts. Otherwise, if they just sing from their voices, who cares? Why would I care about anybody's voice here? That's not gonna help me. Ah, but when their hearts are open to God and then their voices are surrendered, oh, it's glorious, isn't it? Close your eyes with me. Some of you really, God set this up for you behind me and in front of me, because this mountain, you're either gonna have it come down in front of you by the power of the Holy Spirit or you're gonna run from it. What are you gonna do? Give in to it? You can either give in to mountains or they come down in front of you. I don't know how long it'll take. I don't know how God will do it, but it starts by saying it's not by might nor by power, but in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you fear you this, you that, you besetting sin, you weakness in the flesh. You are coming down. You are not gonna torment me. You're not gonna hold me back from building what God wants me to build, from doing what God wants me to do, from speaking what God wants me to speak. I am not gonna be a loser. I am a winner in Jesus, but I'm not gonna quote it. I'm gonna see it happen through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you're here today and you got some mountains that you need to see brought down in front of you, you might not be as broken and as vulnerable as I was that day, but you are in a place where, pastor, that had my name on it. Your sermon had my name on it, and I wanna say, come Holy Spirit. I'm gonna worship. I'm gonna wait for a while. Get out of your seat from upstairs or downstairs and just come and stand here. We pastors will stand on the steps. The prayer band's gonna come and stand with you. Come on, everybody with a mountain that has to come down. Only God can apply what I said. Oh, Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit of God. Come and glorify Christ among us. Bring down those mountains. What are you, O mountain, to stand before the people of God? Who are you? What are you? You will come down in the name of Christ. For it's not by might nor by power, but God's spirit will bring you down. God's spirit will bring you down. We praise you for the mountains that are gonna come down, for the amazing things your spirit is gonna do in our church and our lives so that Christ will be glorified. Not for us, to you be all the glory. Not for us, Lord, for you be all the glory. Every eye close. Even if you've never done this before, I politely ask you to do it, please. If you feel uncomfortable doing it, you don't have to be involved, but I really think it will help you. We're gonna end this part of the meeting. Those who wanna linger can come and meet me in the front, but right now I want, when I tell you, every man to just turn and face a man, join hands. Every woman, turn, find a woman. You join hands, face each other. Then decide which one is gonna pray first, and then you pray over that other person and say, who are you, O mountain, that will stop this woman or my brother, my sister, from being what God wants her to be? Who are you? You're gonna come down in the name of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Everybody, find a prayer partner, pray over each other. Pray as long as you'd like. Then leave if you have to leave.