Mike Bickle emphasizes the grace of God in leadership as depicted in Zechariah 3:1-10, illustrating how God cleanses and empowers His people, despite their weaknesses and failures. He highlights the significance of Joshua and Zerubbabel as leaders who represent Israel's calling, and how God's grace enables them to fulfill their divine purpose. Bickle reassures that God's forgiveness and provision are available to all, encouraging believers to embrace their roles with diligence and wholeheartedness. The sermon underscores that even the smallest acts of service are valued by God, and that His intercession silences accusations against us. Ultimately, Bickle calls for a response of gratitude and commitment to God's calling, reminding us that we are all 'brands plucked from the fire' by His grace.

Father we come to you in the name of Jesus Lord we ask you for the spirit of grace Lord I ask you for inspiration on our heart. We ask you for living understanding Even now as we open our heart before you Holy Spirit teach us Teach me Holy Spirit Teach us new things about the heart of Jesus Jesus name we pray amen paragraph a The fourth and the fifth visions Of Zechariah as what we are approaching now. They go together in the way that vision 1 2 & 3 go together vision 4 & 5 go together and In a minute later, we'll see that visions 6 7 & 8 go together as well. There's they're all clustered and these two visions and Zechariah 3 & 4 we see that God will cleanse and anoint his people So they can walk in the promises That are described in the first three visions Number one just review from the last session in the first three visions the Lord promised to return to Jerusalem personally Fill the city and the temple with glory Take full possession of the land draw all nations to worship him again, the question is how can a Weak and a sinful people like Israel. How could they participate in? such glory How could a holy God dwell among such a people as Israel? And again, you could put any nation in there any group of people it all be the same answer Paragraph B. I give a couple paragraphs of just Summarizing Zechariah 3 & 4 because you really want to lock in in a personal way to Zechariah 3 & 4 So I'm going to say the same thing just slightly different three four times in a row The two visions they focus on the two primary leaders of Israel the main Spiritual leader Joshua the main political leader who also was a spiritual leader Zerubbabel the governor The idea is if the top leaders Were sinful and could not deserve to be used Then if God will take the very highest spots of leadership and qualify them that he will qualify Everybody in with a lesser position of authority as well These two leaders represent Israel's leadership and their national calling to be a priest to all nations Paragraph C. The Lord addresses the tank the two main obstacles that hinder any people of God from their destiny So we can think about Israel we can think about our own lives in our own ministries Obstacle number one our sin God has given each of us a calling but what about our sin? I'm talking about after We said yes to Jesus and we're born again. What about our failure? The Lord says I'm going to cleanse you and renew you That's Zechariah 3. Okay You've cleansed me now. What about the lack of resource? There's not enough people helping me. There's not enough money. There's not enough understanding. There's not enough anything How can I complete the task? He says I'm going to give you supernatural provision I'm gonna cleanse you and I'm gonna help you with provision Paragraph D. Let's say it again Zechariah 3 he says I'm gonna cleanse your heart. I'm talking about us born-again believers. I'm gonna renew you day by day But I want that cleansing to lead you to wholeheartedness. I Don't want you to receive the cleansing and just go off to your own I want you in gratitude to give wholehearted response radical response to me Zechariah 4 I'm gonna help you in your work I'm gonna provide for you Even the smallest and most difficult task we're gonna find in Zechariah 4 in the next session The task was so little and it was so hard That the nation was despising it. They said it's too little it's not worth it The Lord says even the smallest thing that you do. I value it paragraph II Zechariah 3 and 4 these two chapters is a revelation of the grace of God To not only the sinful people of God that Zechariah 3 but also the weak. We don't have the resource We don't have the ability. We don't have what it takes to get the job done the message of the chapter 3 God forgives Even our greatest sins the message of chapter 4 he provides And he values even the smallest tasks his eyes are on us Both chapters focus on the eyes of the Lord Locked in on his people he's aware. He's aware of our need for forgiveness and healing and cleansing He's aware of our need for provision and he values the labor We offer to him no matter how small and weak it is. His eyes are locked in in both chapters upon his people Paragraph F. I'm saying it again The first obstacle that we overcome is the lie We fail too much to be used by God The second obstacle we overcome is a lie. We lack too much To finish the task God gave us. I don't have enough resource. I don't have enough wisdom. I don't have enough training I don't have enough help. There's not enough people Things aren't right. The Lord says I'll take care of it You'll fulfill the will of God I've called you to to do The conclusion Paragraph G. We're confident in his love No condemnation We're confident that he values our labors no matter how small what a way to live Zechariah 3 and 4 they changed the way we carry our heart and we approach life But it's in the overflow of Experiencing this that we can proclaim this message to Israel and really to the nations of the earth We can say this is the kind of God he is Top of page 27 Now I want to encourage you to the page we just covered page 26 Later on next week or two to go back and get a hold of those ideas Make them personal Work through these two chapters chapter 3 and 4. I mean, they're really personal and As we're touched by them. We have a very clear message of comfort Isaiah 40 comfort Jerusalem comfort my people we can comfort them out of the overflow of Experiencing those realities in our own life Well this fourth vision The Zechariah sees the heavenly scene the counsel of the Lord And he sees the nation's spiritual leader Joshua the high priest he's standing there before the angel of the Lord And again, we believe the angel of the Lord like most conservative commentators agree. This is the pre-incarnate Christ so Joshua standing before the Lord and Satan he comes into the Heavenly scene and to the council The courtroom of the Lord and he accuses Joshua. He goes, how can you use this man? He deserves to be disqualified and what Satan's really talking about is that man Joshua, but he's also talking about the nation of Israel How can you give promises like this to such a weakened broken man and nation like this Paragraph see now Joshua represents himself a man in need of redemption, but he also is Standing there in the official capacity Representing Israel and her destiny. I have good news as The sin of Joshua was removed in one day So the sin of Israel will be removed in one day What God did for Joshua he'll do for Israel, but he did for you as well and he Continues to do for you even as a born-again believer It's not just we're forgiven once There his mercies are new every day. He delights in mercy day after day. It's what the scripture tells us Well, let's look at the heavenly vision itself Roman number three He showed me Joshua Standing before the Angel of the Lord Satan was at the right hand opposing Joshua now most translations Use the word accusing Joshua. It's the same word. I like that word accusing because it gives us more graphic He is opposing him, but he's saying he's disqualifying Telling the Lord how dare you use him? Do you remember he did this? Do you remember he did that? Now the problem is that Joshua Was guilty as charged His garments were dirty. He did do it the problem with Israel. They're guilty The problem with you and me were guilty We have no defense I'm talking about as Those chosen in the grace of God even we have no defense now remember Earlier than in the night. We're here on vision for so we're in the middle of the night. It's 3 a.m. I'm just making that up The night watch says hey, that's middle the afternoon But earlier in the in the night when the night visions began that same angel of the Lord was interceding for Israel You know, it's just some moments or hours later we don't know The angel the Lord is now going to manifest his intercession and he's going to intercede in yet another way So he's showing himself in chapter 1 in chapter 3 as the great intercessor in both chapters Paragraph 3 we know it We know this Satan's primary strategy is to accuse you To make you quit Cause you to lose confidence Confidence that you can enjoy God and God enjoys you and confidence that what you're doing matters to God He wants us to lose confidence So we draw back from God and we quit our assignment our assignment small. It doesn't matter. The Lord says it does matter Matters to me what you're doing that you're doing my will But beloved Satan can only accuse he has no authority to condemn He can only speak He cannot make anything happen according to his accusations The Lord speaks up for Joshua and the Lord speaks up for you paragraph 5 Now Joshua is standing before the Lord This is a very important phrase Because it's an official term for priestly ministry It's not just standing before the Lord in the casual way This is the term used in the Old Testament for the priests that are ministering before the Lord It's spoken of the tribe of Levi It's spoken of the high priest Elijah and Elisha they stood before the Lord the priest of Zadok. They stand before the Lord This is their official capacity in priestly ministry top of page 28 the good news The Lord did not receive the accusation But the Lord spoke up he interceded yet in a different way than he did in chapter 1 verse 12 The Lord spoke up he's not silent beloved when the devil's accusing you the Lord is not silent Jesus said Matthew 10 He goes if you will give witness to me. He goes I want you to know I am Speaking up for you in the presence of my father and the angels and I want you to speak up for me That's a different point. But the point I'm making he speaks up for us in the presence of God He says Satan the Lord rebuke you Be silent Your accusations have no place and no power in my presence Then he says it again, but he actually elaborates on it He said not only the Lord rebuke you but the God who chose Jerusalem rebuke you The God who chooses the weak and the broken the God that chooses the small and the left alone The God that chooses the weak. He's the God that rebukes you Then he went on to say this unusual phrase from Amos chapter 4 It's a phrase that Amos the Prophet used Is Israel or Jerusalem specifically is she not a brand plucked from the fire? So he tells this is his answer to Satan he goes isn't she like a Stick that was in the fire almost totally consumed But at the last minute when she was in Babylon about to be totally consumed Did I not break in and pluck her out and save her Satan? Aren't I not aware of her sin and failure? I sent her to Babylon Babylon could have completely Destroyed the nation, but I intervened that's what I think about Jerusalem and I will always Intervene and pluck her from the fire, but the message goes beyond that. This is what he does for us When the fires are burning the Lord says I will pluck you out So the Lord says two things he rebukes Satan and describes Joshua and Jerusalem as a brand plucked from the fire Paragraph 1 now the Lord rebukes Satan not because the accusations were false Joshua was guilty He rebuked him because the love of God and the sovereign choice for Jerusalem and Joshua the Lord will not tolerate the Accusations against us in his presence and here's the point if the Lord won't tolerate him then we must not agree with them We must not wallow in our religious Self pity and condemnation. We must agree with God with what he says about us and It's not just personal when the nation's are writing off Jerusalem and when the church is writing off Jerusalem We cannot buy into that accusation Many godly men and women who love Jesus and love the word. They've written off Jerusalem as a brand destroyed in the fire and done away with instead of plucked from the fire whom God has chosen Inadvertently They don't mean to but they're actually joining the accusation of Satan against that land number two Jesus is intercession for us is stronger than the devil's accusation Again, he was interceding back in chapter 1 verse 12 But here's what Paul says about the intercession of Jesus that we find here in Zechariah 3 Paul Develops it in a far greater way verse 33 who shall bring an accusation against us What man or demon is going to receive access to God and approval with what they say against us Does it matter what person or demon God says? I won't listen to it. It is God who justifies Who is the one that condemns what man is condemning you your own conscience might be condemning you after you've repented If you haven't repented listen to the condemnation Because it's under life It's called conviction It's not condemnation. It's conviction when the Holy Spirit is saying agree with me and get liberated It's a big difference Christ is the one who died Is risen at the right hand of the Father we find this in Zechariah 3 right here He's interceding for us and we see the heavenly scene here in Zechariah 3 Who's able to separate you first John Jesus is our advocate. He's our lawyer He's our intercessor. He's Presenting our case through the lens of his own finished work and his own on the cross and his own blood paragraph see I find this Fascinating part of the story now. You have to pay attention to the timing Because the the timing is critical of these two events at the same time That Satan is accusing Joshua in the realm of the Spirit the governor of Samaria is Accusing Joshua in the earthly realm. It's happening exactly the same time this man Tad and I the governor of Samaria a Persian Author a part of the Persian Authority structure in the land Let's read Ezra chapter 5 Haggai and Zechariah were prophesying to the Jews Well, we know that started Just a few months before Zechariah has these eight visions in one night verse 2 so rub a bell and Joshua, that's another Way to say Joshua they rose up and they begin to obey So we're right at the timing Where's the rub a bell and Joshua being prophesied by Zechariah? It's right here. It's Zechariah 3 and 4 Here's the key phrase verse 3 Ezra 5 at the very same time that young Zechariah the prophet is giving these guys words right here in Zechariah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 and I the governor the Persian Representative of the Persian government He went to Joshua in the natural like the devil was going against Joshua in the spirit now Joshua didn't even know what was happening in the spirit a Prophet saw it Joshua knew what happened in the natural the governor came and commanded him No, it's I mean accused of who told you to start building this temple again. You haven't worked on it for 16 years Who said start working on it again? You have no authority You'll see I'm gonna get the Persian government to shut you down You just hold on Because I'm putting you out of business So tan and I the governor verse 7 he sent a letter back to Persia Said Oh great King Did you know the upstarts in Jerusalem are starting that temple thing again that they did 16 years ago? Verse 17 Tell me what you want to do and the idea is surely the king Darius is going to shut it down like it was shut down before So tan and I the governor he's making this formal accusation to the government of Persia while he's making a Personal accusation to Joshua, but at the same time the devil is a cutie accusing Joshua in the spirit but the angel of the Lord The pre-incarnate cries I rebuke you Satan Peace be still stop and in the natural the favor of God touches King Darius and Influenced by the intercession of Jesus at the right hand of the Father the angel the Lord King Darius gets a very opposite response than tan and I the governor was experienced was it was expecting paragraph D The king writes back verse 6 tan and I Oh governor Let the house of God alone be quiet He's reading this he goes. Well, I wasn't expecting that I would expect a Persian Modern-day Iranian Authority structure to shut down the temple of Jerusalem Matter of fact verse 8 the king says we're gonna take it up a notch Not only do I want you to leave him alone Verse 8 I want you to take the tax money that you're collecting in your region to send back home to the capital I want you to give it to him to finance the building of the temple. This is a remarkable turn of events political resistance broke in one day and financial provision came in one day suddenly That's what's happening in the natural boat Zechariah the Prophet sees what's happening in the spirit and all through Zechariah chapter 1 to 6 we see the correlation of the mighty horses and chariots with angels in the spirit and then there's Judgment coming on nations in the natural. There's this correlation between spiritual dynamics and earthly political events and financial events that are happening In Zechariah by the grace of God pulls the veil back Gives us great insight much like Daniel 10 does and Daniel 10 Daniel's fasting and praying and then he sees the angels fighting against the demonic Principalities and and then suddenly afterwards things change in the natural realm Paragraph D. Let's read that Just as the Lord rebuked Satan for accusing Joshua So the king rebuked the governor for troubling Joshua And then made him pay for it That governor was thinking man. I'm not doing this again. This cost me big time. I already had that money budgeted paragraph II the Lord tells Satan Don't tell me how weak and Sinful Jerusalem is I'm the God that chooses cities like this It's who I am. I choose Jerusalem. I know what I was getting into when I chose Jerusalem top of page 29 She's a brand plucked from the fire Now, this is a very interesting phrase Because this is the confidence and this is the messaging we can tell Israel today I mean, there's so many different attitudes Among the Jewish people from spiritual ones to secular ones Some of them have given up hope some of them have hope all different range of emotions and opinions, but I can tell you this Israel will not be destroyed He is the God who has always plucked her out of the fire every time when she had no Ability to deliver herself the stick cannot deliver itself from the fire and he always rescues her that's his That's his answer He describes Joshua and Israel to Satan as a brand plucked from the fire And the fire that he's referring to the Lord is is the Babylonian captivity 20 years earlier. They just were liberated paragraph 3 The Message the Lord will always intervene to deliver Israel always No matter what the nation say these different men rise up and drive Israel into the sea impossible for that to ever happen paragraph 5 today Let's make it personal Because this is not just a revelation about how God feels about Jerusalem and Joshua. This is a revelation as to what's Kind of heart God has the kind of heart Jesus has He's raising up people All over the earth and all over this room Then are like Joshua were brands plucked from the fire If he did not rescue us like he rescued Joshua beloved We would be consumed by our own foolishness and said when God calls people to serve him He knows what he's getting into He didn't say oh, you know what? I thought Joshua was a better guy. He understood Paragraph G Here's the message Israel's destiny In all of God's promises rest upon his sovereign choice his sovereign choice Depends upon his Unchangeable character and faithfulness now, that's the very point that Paul made Because the nations were saying that God's cast away Israel he goes he has it in Zechariah 3 and it's the same basis He doesn't cast you away because he chose you and he came after you and he made provision by his own son for you top of page 30 Now let's look at the symbolic act for just a moment He sees the symbolism around the the throne the dirty garments are removed the new garments are given Let's read it verse 3 to 5 Joshua Was clothed with dirty garments. He's guilty as charged. His garments are dirty. He sinned the nation of Israel sin There's no argument there and he's standing before the Lord in his priestly calling his leadership position. He should be disqualified The priestly nation the call upon Israel they should be disqualified Verse 4 then he spoke the Lord spoke to the angels that are standing there in the heavenly court Take away the dirty garments from him and to him. He said see He says this to Joshua in the vision See, that's a key word. See you're clean Many of God's people once God's cleansed us. I don't mean the day we're born again. I've got the daily cleansing He says see you have to see it It's not enough that I cleansed you. That's the big point But if you don't believe it and you take the accusation the enemy You'll never have the confidence to move forward in the way that God Has ordained I will clothe you with rich robes This is that glorious Truth of the exchange that takes place because of the work of the cross we receive the robe of righteousness Jesus his own righteousness Verse 5 now, this is interesting. I Mean these dynamics these human dynamics Zechariah in this heavenly encounter he jumps in He jumps into the intercession Which is so amazing because our actions and words really matter he says put the turban on his head Here's the Lord Talking to the angels take away the dirty garments put on the clean ones. Here's the young prophet again young 20s Hey, put the turban on to the angels. Look over there. The Lord looks over the little guy Okay And so the angels put the turban on And the angel the Lord stood by meaning he was approving. He goes good good That was good because the turban spoke of the reaffirmation and installment of the priestly office the fact that God was affirming that this man Joshua who did not deserve it is Reaffirmed in the presence of God in his function not just as personhood as a worshiper, but as his function in leadership It's kind of like Zechariah. He's good. Hey, give him his calling back to don't just forgive him put the turban on his head I get I picture these angels and the Lord look at him go It's good. Now, obviously the Lord intentionally allowed Him to involve he wants his dynamic intervention, but it's remarkable. I can just picture the next day Joshua How's things going? Well, the governor just knocked on my door and gave me notice we got to shut down the temple. Thanks. Don't worry Help is coming Having a little rough time in your personal life. Well Yeah, why well this you're gonna be okay Thinking about quitting Don't quit Joshua the Lord's gonna reaffirm your position. You don't have to quit It's putting the turban back on your head he's giving you new garments and he's shutting the mouth of the accusers against you Joshua how did how do you know all this? Oh, I saw it an open vision And I spoke up for you I said hey strengthen his leadership put that turban back. Thanks what the Lord say he smiled Said yeah, okay good The angels rolled their eyes, but the Lord smiled paragraph 3 the rich robes Symbolic of the robes of righteousness our personal salvation But also the priestly robes of our ministry calling before the Lord and our calling to represent the Lord These are the truths of the gospel of grace being played out here in an Old Testament context number four Again, I want to highlight the fact that the Lord in the vision told Joshua see I have removed the clothing the dirty garments beloved. It's Imperative we see this truth Not many of us we can tell another person they're forgiven. But when it comes to our own personal failures I'm talking about as a born-again believer in leadership. We can't see our own forgiveness top of page 31 Now the change the scene changes Now the angel the Lord moves From an intercessory capacity To admonishing him Joshua in the vision in verse 6 This is a strange word verse 6 the Lord admonished admonished Lord is that the right word? Don't you mean encouraged? You just forgave him of everything you re Established his leadership calling with the turban He's got clean garments The devil's mouth has been silenced You're admonishing him because to admonish is to sternly warn him Very very important passage here. He gives him two exhortations Or admonitions is actually a better word to Exhortations, but with an element of warning that's what that's what admonishing is. It's an exhortation But there's an element of warning to it but in Response to his obedience. He will get three promises. So the Lord is Motivating him even with these three promises The angel the Lord let's read at verse 6 Admonished him Verse 7 is the whole thing two exhortations or admonitions and three promises Here's what I want you to do Joshua now that you're free in the grace of God now that you're forgiven now that you have A new beginning now that your leadership position is solidified and affirmed and established You don't have to quit. You don't have to draw back. You don't have to hide before me You're strong and clean in my presence. I mean strong me you have confidence and my presence Here's what I want you to do. Number one. I want you to walk in my ways from now on Don't go back into those areas. I've cleansed you and Number two keep the command Now this keep the command. He's not talking about general commandments of moral commandments in his life Most translations will say or many translations keep the charge which speaks of the assignment He gave him in the temple Says obey me in your personal life, and I want you to be diligent in the charge. I gave you I'm warning you Joshua. It's important That you receive the grace of God in a way that motivates you to be diligent in Your service and wholehearted in your obedience. Don't take the grace of God in vain Let it lead you to an energized response of wholeheartedness to me Then you can read the notes when he says keep the command The new American standard then a NASS performed the service fulfill the task I gave you paragraph 5 the exhortation to keep the command Again to fulfill the charge the assignment. It's an it's an exhortation not to quit But to be diligent now here paragraph 5 is very important See we all understand what it means walking my ways. Okay, we get this do this don't do that. Okay, we get the life of character and obeying the Lord in our personal life, but when it comes to the assignment he gives us there's a often people have a very casual of you and Perspective on their assignment and I want to read this sentence Some people I'd like to upgrade that to many people They see their assignment as voluntary So when it gets hard they can quit But we need to see our assignment like a military assignment in a war zone. They have to fulfill it regardless of the obstacles in our culture We want to obey the Lord our personal life, but our assignment we do when it works and people are nice and The doors open that we want but when the doors don't open the people aren't nice We can quit our assignment because we have no sense of assignment I don't want to go off on this But Paul the Apostle a number of times said I need to finish my course He didn't mean just make it to the end without a scandalous sin He meant I've got to finish the work. He gave me just like Jesus did I've looked at my assignment over the years Sometimes I really like my assignment other times I go. Oh, you know, it says don't even think that way It's not about you enjoying it though. Sometimes you will it's about the fact I said do it It's a military assignment in a war zone. It's not a volunteer thing You're volunteering at the church a little bit on the weekend. That's not what we're talking about But here's my point the admonition to walk in godly character Was paralleled with an equal admonition not to quit the ministry assignment Both of them have equal weight in the admonition and I find that that strength is my heart when I look at that Okay, there is really no option. Okay. I got it. I Wish it was easier. I wish there was more money. I wish people were nicer. I wish I had more energy I wish things would go easier But you know what? Those are irrelevant. I'm gonna obey you because you said do it and That's a different place in the grace of God that some people who obey him the Lord in their morality They don't obey him in the charge over their life Paragraph B. This is I'll give you three promises He'll judge my house That's leadership in general of his larger kingdom purposes You'll have charge of my courts the courts with the temple. I'll give you more leadership in The temple itself if you obey me And then I love the Revelation 3 I had to slip that in there Revelation 3 12 where the Lord told the Overcomers the church at Philadelphia in the book of Revelation because if you will obey I'll give you a place in my temple in the age to come. Oh, I love that one This wasn't Joshua's promise didn't end in this age. He says yeah, I'll give you a even a place of leadership a greater Authority even in the role you have now, but it will extend way beyond your life in this age Joshua This promise has a big-picture dimension Top of page 32 This is an interesting one and the third promise he said Joshua if you will not quit The assignment and if you will obey in the character, you'll be diligent in your assignment faith on the character number three I'll give you a place to walk among these who stand here He's pointing at the angel The Lord is saying Joshua You will obey be diligent in your assignment and faith on your character these angels I will give you access to this realm Can imagine the angels, you know, they're first their eyes went up when Zachariah was talking now their eyes go began. Whoa now in the general sense What he's saying I'm gonna give you greater Experience of the presence of God, but in a specific sense I'm gonna give you a realm to the council access to the council of the Lord. I Love that promise paragraph see The grace message in Zechariah 3 the extravagant grace in verses 1 to 5 is to lead to wholeheartedness and diligence the Grace of God in his extravagance is not meant to make us confident in a life of passivity But it's to energize our diligence in gratitude He gave Joshua the free gift of righteousness But then he admonished him now you have the choice to be diligent Now that I gave you the free gift and it really matters if you were diligent or not Some people think grace means the cancel out of the cold diligence whereas grace is the Energizing to wholeheartedness and diligence. It's exactly opposite of canceling it out It told Joshua I admonish you with the gift. I've given you of the free grace of God You need to press them to me now with all of your heart Roman numeral six the coming Messiah and his salvation now in the vision I Josh was in this vision. I don't know. It's a vision. I mean Josh was at home sleeping Zechariah see I don't know how that works. I don't need to know how it works. I Know he's in his bed down the road, but he's in the vision that Zechariah is having verse 8 a moment ago he said See Joshua, you've been cleansed now. He changes it and says here Joshua I've got a message for you. I want you to see that you're clean, but I want you to hear a message Hero Joshua You and your leadership team the companions are the fellow priests that are in the leadership of the temple It's his senior leadership team that's being addressed because I want you to hear this message You and the team together You are a wondrous prophetic sign now the implication is if You are diligent to obey me and you're diligent in the task I gave you if you will respond in those two ways you will be a prophetic sign to others Your very Presence in the grace of God obeying me will be a statement that the Messiah is coming But not only that you will be a sign That the grace of God for priestly ministry is doable for the people of God They will see you the Reinstituted priestly ministry and they will know the the great high priest is coming the Messiah is coming But they will see you and they will say the priestly ministry is doable to weaken broken people Look at the grace in your life He said I want you to get this Joshua you and your leadership team you it's more than just you're enjoying God you are a statement about what God's like and you're a statement about the doable Ness or whatever the word is of walking in the grace of God in In priestly ministry it can be done. It's within the reach of weak people. So it's Imperative you are faithful to the end what you do matters go tell your team that This is true of all ministries All over the earth, but there are times when I look at our leadership team our worship leaders And I'm saying do you understand how much courage? Weakened broken broken people are getting around the world because weakened broken people here. We're not quitting We're all tempted to draw back Because of our failure or to draw back just in the weariness of obstacles but the Lord says here you're a sign you're giving courage to what God's doing and how doable it is to obey him look at your lives It matters paragraph 5 He says I want you to hear it And I say this to the IHOP leadership team. I say to everyone listening Whatever mandate God's give you here That you in your faithfulness You're giving insight to what God's like by your very faithfulness as a team and you're giving Inspiration to weak people that it's doable It matters top of page 33 then Joshua is shown The branch and the stone these are two pictures of the Messiah the Messiah For he says Joshua Your ministry is going to lead to something. There's a continuity you won't see for some generations, but there's a fruit That's coming at the end years later. It's the Messiah is coming out of these labors There's continuity. I'm bringing forth my servant the branch that is a Term for the Messiah the Old Testament It's mentioned six or seven times Verses nine for behold the stone I've laid before you Joshua there was a stone laid before Joshua and God tells Zechariah to look at that stone Because on the stone there's a message and on the stone there are seven eyes and And God says look at the stone with the seven eyes and with the inscription the engraving on the stone Because here's the message. I will save Israel in one day through the labors that are going on right now And in your own generation, there's continuity to a big salvation purpose No matter how small what you think you're doing Now is he says there's a connection to something massive down the road number one The branch it's a picture of the Messiah. This is a glorious picture of the Messiah when I first Read about the Messiah in the Old Testament again six or seven times called the branch. I thought what a strange Title for the Messiah, but the idea is this His ministry grows and branches out. That's what it means Because we would think that when Jesus comes back Because he's God he will wave his hand and the whole earth will be fully immersed in the kingdom of God But that's not how it happens when Jesus comes back The epicenters Jerusalem and it builds out its supernatural and it's fast, but there's human dynamics It happens day by day little by little a lot bigger measures than this age But it happens day by day like it does now it branches out And not only does the kingdom under Jesus's leadership increase Progressively like a branch a branch is living whereas a stone is it? But more than that a branch Has the capacity to be joined to other branches Jesus spoke of this truth in John 15 that the the vine and the branches in other words Jesus is saying I'm not only gonna branch out in a living connection with my people by the spirit I will through you we will reach the nations as one reality together This term the branch is massive well a branch has living connection and progressive growth a Stone is weight-bearing the whole house rest on the stone number three the seven eyes speak of the omniscience of Jesus The full wisdom and knowledge of God is in the man Jesus fully God fully man We see Jesus in Revelation 5 with the seven eyes and the seven horns. He has all knowledge and all authority number four There's something engraved. He tells Zachariah. Look I put a message on the stone now We don't know exactly what the message is, but the next phrase is Israel is going to be saved in one day So we believe or I believe and many do that what's written on the stone has something to do with this thing culminating and Israel's national salvation in one day Now Israel saved in one day in two different ways Jesus paid the price in one day on the cross 2,000 years ago. Their salvation was secured in one day and Then when he returns the whole nation will literally be saved in a day they will receive it So it was purchased in a day and 2,000 years later It's fully received every single Jewish person on the planet that survives the tribulation will become born-again radical believers of Jesus and One day never did such a thing happen where every single person is born again in one nation and even more remarkable Every person's born again in one nation in one day Some people say well that one day means a period of time. That's good. I'll go for that Do you want to I think it means one day literally, but who cares they all get saved any way it goes paragraph see the end the national salvation will have individual impact on every single family there will be prosperity and security every single family Will enjoy the blessing of God so they can share it in community with others and enjoy the Lord together So it's not just a salvation in the legal sense. It will have a dynamic Social impact as described there So the Lord says this is what I'm going to do with Israel's failure. I have an answer then the next session Zechariah 4 what about Israel's lack of provision? What about Israel's difficulty and obstacles? We'll look at that at the next session Amen Let's stand