...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
You can all find your seats. We're going to get started.
We're going to start this evening off in song number 389, Bring Them In.
Song 389, Bring Them In.
Song number 389, Bring Them In. Sing it out.
Heart is the shepherd's voice I hear. Out in the desert, dark and drear.
Calling the sheep who've gone astray. Far from the shepherd's fold away.
Bring them in. Bring them in. Bring them in from the fields of sin.
Bring them in. Bring them in. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus.
Who'll go to hell this shepherd kind? Help out the wandering ones to find.
Who'll bring the lost ones to the fold? Where they'll be sheltered from the cold.
Bring them in. Bring them in. Bring them in from the fields of sin.
Bring them in. Bring them in. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus.
Out in the desert, hear their cry. Out on the mountains, wild and high.
Heart is the master speaks to thee. Go find my sheep, where'er they be.
Bring them in. Bring them in. Bring them in from the fields of sin.
Bring them in. Bring them in. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus.
Great singing. Let's go ahead and open this service up in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for this opportunity to be gathered together in your church, Lord God.
Please fill Pastor Shelley with the Holy Spirit helping to preach an edifying sermon.
Help us all to take what we learn with us throughout the rest of the week for your honor and glory.
It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
All right, next up we have song number 221, A Child of the King.
Song 221, A Child of the King.
My Father is rich in houses and lands.
Behold is the wealth of the world in his hands.
Of rubies and diamonds of silver and gold.
His covers are full, he has riches of gold.
I'm a child of the King, a child of the King.
With Jesus my Savior, I'm a child of the King.
My Father's own Son, the Savior of men.
Must wander on earth as the poorest of them.
But now he is feeding our pardon on high.
That he may be his when he comes high and high.
I'm a child of the King, a child of the King.
With Jesus my Savior, I'm a child of the King.
I once was an outcast and stranger on earth.
A sinner by choice and an alien by birth.
But I've been adopted, my name's written down.
An heir to a mansion, the robe and a crown.
I'm a child of the King, a child of the King.
With Jesus my Savior, I'm a child of the King.
A central reconnaissance, what should I care?
They're building a palace for me over there.
No exile from home, yet still I may sing.
All glory to God, I'm a child of the King.
I'm a child of the King, a child of the King.
With Jesus my Savior, I'm a child of the King.
Great singing.
God bless.
Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you need a bulletin again, you can lift up your hand real quick.
One of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin on the front.
We have our Bible memory passage, Psalm 59 verse 3.
Any kiddos that can quote it can get an ice cream after the service.
Our service and soul winning times are there on the left and regional.
Make sure you're turning in your soul winning stats to the soul winning captains on the right.
We have a list of several expecting ladies and then our prayer list down below.
We'll get to that in just a second.
Upcoming events this weekend, this Friday, I'm going to be preaching in Chicago, Illinois
for an event hosted by Sure Foundation Baptist Church, which is our great friend, Pastor Aaron Thompson.
And so it'll be great to go out there and see him.
I know a few people are actually traveling with us up there from our church.
And so there's a lot of people that are going to be organizing up there.
We're going to have a soul winning event on Saturday specifically.
And so we're really excited about going out there.
And I'm really excited to see a lot of the brethren and hang out with them.
And so I've only been to Chicago one time very briefly.
And so I'm excited to see what the soul winning is like.
And just pray that the soul winning and the event will go smoothly even if you're not able to attend.
Also, June 8th is a wedding in honor of Joshua and Cynthia Garcia at 3 p.m.
And then prayer list, we've been praying for Brother Hall continually for his leg.
We've been praying for Miss Naim's grandmother.
We've been praying for the Carlson's mother for her health.
We've been praying for Miss Miller's friend, Miss Tamara, for cancer treatments as well.
Also, if you've been praying for the Garcia's son in law, Eric, who's having knee surgery recovery.
And then we also have a prayer request here for Brother Scott, his nephew, Mark, who's experiencing heart trouble.
And then there's one other prayer request I added in here.
And I usually don't give any updates because dates just change all the time.
But it looks like this one's pretty well settled in.
It's very likely to happen.
But there is a trial of our church on June 3rd.
And so I'm just asking you guys if you would like to at least pray for us that things would go well.
This is in relation to the wrongful eviction that we experienced a few years ago.
And, of course, justice is really speedily.
And so, of course, we're now having finally a trial.
And this case has been really crazy because we actually had filed our litigation before they'd even filed theirs.
And so if you think about it, it's been a very long period of time.
It got dismissed and then it got confirmed that it was dismissed.
And then it went to an appeal appellate court which said that was wrong and kind of sided with us.
So then it went back down.
And then the landlord tried to, like, sue us for a whole bunch of other stuff.
And then all of that got combined into this one.
And then we've been supposed to have this trial.
And then it just keeps getting delayed, delayed, delayed.
But it looks like very likely it's going to happen June 3rd, which is a Monday.
And so we'll be in court on that day and having, in theory, a full trial.
So just pray that the Lord's will be done and that things go smoothly.
And that He gives me and the few witnesses we have just wisdom to know what to say and to say the right things.
And, of course, sometimes it's hard to remember all of that craziness and try to transport ourselves back into that timeline.
And, you know, in speaking with our attorneys that are working with us on this,
it sounds like no matter what the outcome of this specific trial is going to be, it will be appealed.
So they're pretty confident that even if we win, they're going to appeal.
And they're confident that, you know, since we're right, we would appeal as well.
And so it's very likely going to just keep going up this chain.
And so it may just be another couple years until the things even resolve theoretically.
But just pray that, again, the Lord's will be done.
And this is really important litigation considering the fact that it's in relation to free speech
and being able to have a church and preach what the Bible literally says, no matter how ugly it could be sometimes.
And so, you know, I feel like the Lord has been working in this situation.
And I think He's going to continue to work through this situation.
And no matter what the outcome, we're going to get the victory in a sense.
And that the Lord will be glorified and honored, whether that's a complete loss or a complete win.
I believe the Lord can be glorified through either of those.
But I'm really looking forward to resolution at some point.
So whatever that is.
And I personally think, you know, I'm actually very optimistic.
And I think that at the end of the day, we're going to be saying there's a God that judges in the earth.
Okay? So, you know, I don't know what that is like.
And I'm kind of like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
It's like I know He is able.
And I know that I'm not going to bow.
And He can deliver me from the fiery furnace.
And I'm really hoping that's going to be the case, right?
But, of course, I know the Lord's able.
And I do believe it's probably His will to deliver us from that.
But just pray, again, that that would go smoothly.
So I just wanted to give a little update.
And we'll pray for all the things that were mentioned here as a church family.
Thank Heavenly Father so much for all of these ladies who are in a church and expecting.
I pray that you be with them during their pregnancies.
Please help them to have the timely birth that they need.
Please help their children's development.
I pray that you'd also help those who have these chronic health issues.
Please help them with their cancer and with their body ailments.
I pray that you would just give them a speedy recovery, give them health.
Also, give them just peace during this time of difficulty.
Help relieve their pain as much as possible.
I pray that you'd also bless our church family with favor.
I pray that you'd also bless our church in upcoming legal battles
that you would get the honor and that you would get the glory.
And that no matter what the outcome is, that we would just be faithful and draw closer to you.
And I thank you for all that you give our church.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
One other thing to be in prayer for is our evangelist, Duncan Urbanic, out in the Philippines.
And he had a companion out there that you probably didn't necessarily realize,
but Brother James Perry has been out there for months just helping and assisting
and going soul winning and doing a lot of work.
And I asked him if he would just come up and just give us just a few minutes
just to talk about his experiences over there,
what Evangelist Urbanic has been accomplishing, and just to kind of give us a quick testimony.
So would you come up here real quick?
And we really appreciate you to give us some insight as to what's going on over there.
Yes. Thank you.
And so I'm glad to bring good tidings from the Philippines.
Evangelist Urbanic is just doing a great job over there.
He did it at Pure Words.
He's carried that off into the Philippines.
And he's just doing a lot of soul winning out there.
And he has all these baptisms that he's been doing with his wife's family.
I mean, he's just doing a lot of great work out there.
But one thing I want to emphasize that I just really love is he's got three of his wife's family
that he's been discipling, and they go out soul winning with him.
They're eager. They want to go out.
They have a heart for the lost.
And he's been using them as an interpreter.
And so they're helping him give the gospel sometimes.
And what's happened through this process in a very short amount of time
is they're now soul winning on their own and winning people to Christ.
They're three teenagers.
And I just heard the other day that the last one got his first salvation solo.
And so Evangelist Urbanic is doing just such a great job out there.
And it couldn't be better out there as far as the soul winning goes.
There are so many stories I could tell you.
But if you ever get a chance to go out there, please go visit the Philippines.
It's something that can change your life, just all of the people that are ready to be saved out there.
And if Pastor has another Bahamas trip, I would say that you probably want to go to that one first.
It's way more feasible. It's closer. You're in the same time zone.
It's super receptive as well.
But if you get a chance, go to the Philippines if you can.
And the last thing I want to say is that Brother Urbanic, Evangelist Urbanic,
yes, he's been doing such a great job, but he is out there with his family,
but he's kind of out on an island, right?
Not literally, but, well, in a sense literally.
But please pray for him. Please send him texts, Facebook.
Anytime you get a chance and you're just thinking about him, let him know.
It would be a great encouragement to him.
He would love to hear from all of you guys and help keep him motivated.
But he's definitely motivated. He's out there doing a great job.
I've seen it with my eyes, and I'm just glad to let everybody know that.
So thank you.
Oh, yeah, and Pastor Stuckey.
So we've been going to church at Pastor Stuckey's church out there, and it's great.
He is a very hard preacher.
He's not jumping up on the pulpit and screaming and yelling,
but he is giving you a message where it's bringing you to a decision.
Are you going to do what the Bible says?
Are you going to just keep being prideful?
And I just love that preaching.
He's doing such a great job out there.
He's doing so much out there.
I don't know how many churches he has, six or so.
And so they're moving into a new building.
They'll be into it in September.
And so if you guys ever wanted to just give an offering to a place
that you're going to see results from that offer
and you're going to see a lot of fruit from it,
I would send him money out there for his building.
And so just keep him in your prayers as well.
The Philippines is a little bit different.
You don't have the free speech that you have here.
And so he has to watch what he says about certain people in public
and can't say Biden's a fumbling idiot or something like that.
And so just keep pastor stuck in your prayers
and just keep Verity Baptist Church Manila in your prayers.
And most of all, because he's one of you guys,
he's a very special guy, is Evangelist Urbanic.
Keep him in your prayers and just let him know that you're thinking about him.
Thank you.
Thanks for those testimonies.
How much are they paying you exactly?
I've seen their salaries.
They can't be paying you much.
No, definitely keep Evangelist Urbanic and Pastor Stuckey in your prayers.
And I know a lot of people from our church have visited out there
and they really enjoy the soul winning.
And these guys are on the front lines of doing a big spiritual work.
And so we definitely don't want to ever forget about them.
Just continue to think about them, pray about them.
And of course our church very much supports both of those guys.
If you ever are interested in contacting them or getting in touch with them or something,
just let us know and we'd love to assist you in that way as well.
We're going to sing our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 148.
Brother Oz is going to come lead this for us, Psalm 148.
All right, let's sing it out together, Psalm 148.
Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him in the heights, praise him.
All his angels praise him.
All his hosts praise him.
Sun and moon praise him.
All you stars of life praise him.
Ye heavens of heavens and ye waters that be above the heavens.
Praise the name of the Lord.
For he commanded and they were created.
He hath also established them forever and ever.
He hath made a decree which shall not pass.
Praise the Lord from the earth.
He, dragons and all beings, fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy wind, love filling his word mountains.
And all hills, fruitful trees, and all cedars peace.
And all cattle, creeping things, and flying fowl, kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth.
Both young men and maidens, old men and children, let them praise the name of the Lord.
For his name alone is excellent.
His glory is above the earth, and heaven he also exalted the morn.
Of his people the praise of all his saints.
He known the children of Israel.
Of people near unto him praise he the morn.
As the offering plates are being passed around, please turn in your Bibles to Zechariah chapter 4.
Zechariah chapter number 4.
Zechariah chapter 4.
Zechariah chapter number 4.
The Bible reads,
And the angel that talked with me came again and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou?
And I said, I have looked and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof, and two olive trees by it,
one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be?
And I said, No, my lord.
And he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof, with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace, unto it.
Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.
For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven.
They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro throughout the whole earth.
Then answered I and said unto him, What are these two olive trees, upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof?
And I answered again and said unto him, What be these two olive branches, which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord.
Then said he, These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for your word, and thank you because we have the King James Bible, Lord.
I just pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your Holy Spirit, help us to make changes in our lives as applicable, Lord, and let your word be plain unto us.
And I praise in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. I want to just give a quick recap of the Book of Zechariah for a second.
And in chapter number one, we have a lot of visions and things that are being given unto Zechariah.
But generally speaking, I feel like chapter one really emphasized the idea of peace that's coming on the earth and then rebuilding the temple.
That's kind of the message communicated in the visions of chapter one.
In chapter two, he emphasizes how the children of Israel are going to be the apple of God's eye and how he's going to watch over them and care for them in this rebuilding process.
And in chapter three, Joshua is considered a brand plucked out of the fire, and he's kind of rebuking to Satan by telling him,
you know, you're not going to be successful. Joshua is going to be successful, messing with him is only going to cause you problems.
And it kind of finishes by also reiterating the fact that the branch is coming, which is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and how that's unstoppable.
It doesn't matter what the devil does. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come. He's going to die on the cross.
The gospel message is going to go forward. And so what God has ordained will come to pass.
And when we get into chapter number four, I believe kind of the main emphasis here is the idea of the Spirit of God is what gives us success.
It's the Spirit of God that is going to enable us and empower us to have that success when we talk about having peace and building, be the apple of God's eye and resisting the devil.
And here in chapter four, starting in verse one, he says,
And the angel that talked with me came again and waked me as a man that is wakened out of his sleep.
And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked and behold, a candlestick, all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it,
and its seven lamps therein, or thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof,
and to all of trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
So we have a vision here of a candlestick, and this has seven branches, seven lamps, seven pipes.
And we typically refer to this as a menorah, as a candlestick that has this seven figures here, these seven bowls, these seven pipes,
this specific type of a candlestick. But on each side, there's also an olive tree that's mentioned.
Now, I believe that this specific vision has a couple different applications.
One application is actually just given to us in the text itself, just a little bit later in Scripture.
Look at verse number 11.
Then answered I, and I said unto him, What are these two olive trees, upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof?
And I answered again and said unto him, What be these two olive branches, which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be?
And I said, No, my Lord.
Then said he, These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
I love how it's almost it's just funny to me how it's like, Hey, what are these things?
He's like, You don't know.
No, that's why I'm asking.
And he's like, Hey, these are the two anointed ones and they're standing by the Lord of the whole earth.
Well, I believe this is a picture of and reminds us of something in the book of Revelation.
Keep your finger and go to Revelation chapter number 11.
Revelation chapter number 11.
And look at verse number four.
Actually, just for sake of context, we'll read verse three.
And I will give power unto my two witnesses,
and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth.
These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
So notice we actually have pretty much the same language here.
It does mention two candlesticks.
That's a little bit different, but he mentions these two witnesses as being two olive trees,
just like it's mentioned here in the book of Zechariah.
And it says that these two are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.
So I believe one application is in reference to the two witnesses
and that that is what's being described here in the book of Zechariah.
And so there is a little bit of an end times prophecy that's being mentioned here.
One thought that I have is there's a theory that the two witnesses are Moses and Elijah.
Well, I would think that this Zechariah prophecy a little bit helps with that ideology
or coincides with that particular ideology or is compatible with
because it sounds like these two witnesses already exist in the book of Zechariah
because he's describing how these are two anointed ones that are already there with the Lord.
Well, that's fine if it's Moses and Elijah because they have already lived and died
and are with the Lord, so they would be eligible.
To me, if we take this application to be the two witnesses
and they were present there at the time of Zechariah,
well, that would mean it's not you and me.
That would mean it's not somebody down the pike or someone future.
It kind of seems like this is lending itself to the idea that these specific olive trees
have already been there, they already exist.
Now, of course, God can sometimes speak of things before they end up happening
and so that's not for sure.
But to me, it seems to fit or maybe give a little bit of credence to the idea
that these two witnesses have been there for a while
or that they are already established by the time of the book of Zechariah specifically.
So go back if you went to Zechariah.
Here's another idea or application I believe that we could take though
from this specific passage is if you think about what's being pictured here,
you have a candlestick.
Now, from our Bible study in the book of Revelation,
we learn that candlesticks are representative of something.
What is that?
Churches, exactly.
Churches is what was mentioned as being candlesticks.
So we have churches and then we have in this vision olive trees.
Well, what are these olive trees doing?
Essentially, their branches have oil and that oil is coming off of those branches
and they're going on to this specific candlestick
and that candlestick needs oil to do what?
To burn the fire, for the fire to keep burning.
So the point of a candlestick is to give light.
The point of a candlestick is to provide light unto people.
But in antiquity, how did these candlesticks operate?
Well, they used oil.
They would have oil in their lamp and that was causing the fire to keep burning.
In order to keep the fire going, you have to keep pouring oil.
What is this picture?
Well, what is the church supposed to do?
The church is supposed to be the light of the world.
It's supposed to give light just like a candlestick gives light.
Jesus gives reverence to this in Matthew 5.
And what is it that keeps that light burning?
What is it that causes the church to keep going?
Well, that would be the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is that oil that is keeping that fire burning.
Well, what do we have when we have these two olive trees?
Well, I believe that that is a picture of the Old and the New Testament.
And now the Old and the New Testament are what's giving and feeding the church
that oil that's causing it to burn and to give light unto the world.
And so that's what's provided here in this specific illustration.
You know, go if you would to chapter 3, verse 9.
Notice it says this,
For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one stone, shall be seven eyes.
Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts,
and I will remove the iniquity of that land one day.
In chapter 3, we talked about those seven eyes, compared them with Isaiah chapter number 11.
And in Isaiah chapter number 11, I want you to actually go there, if you would.
We read about seven specific spirits.
The Bible tells us in Revelation that the Lamb has seven eyes and seven horns,
and that it is seven spirits of God.
We have here in the chapter preceding a stone with seven eyes,
and then we have here in chapter 4 a candlestick,
and that candlestick has what?
Seven pipes.
Seven pipes specifically.
So what this can be in reference to is the seven spirits of God.
Now, it's not, I don't believe this is necessarily trying to illustrate
spirits in the same way that we talk about the Father or the Holy Ghost.
It's more the idea of like a character,
the character or the attributes of the spirit,
that there's seven spirits to God specifically,
and those seven spirits are mentioned and demonstrated in Isaiah chapter number 11,
and look what it says in verse number 2.
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
So we have these seven spirits,
and when Jesus Christ was on this earth,
the Bible says that the spirit was not given to him by measure, okay?
So what does that mean?
He had all seven of these spirits to the fullest while he was on this earth,
and what is gonna give the church success today?
What is gonna give us success today as Christians?
It is the spirit of God.
The spirit of God is what's gonna give us success
and help us to be a bright and shining light in such a dark world.
What are these seven spirits?
Well, the first one was the spirit of the Lord.
What is the spirit of the Lord?
Well, what do you think that this is?
It's talking about the Lord himself and who he is
and the character of the Lord,
so the spirit of the Lord is the character of the Lord.
What is the character of the Lord?
He's pure, he's righteous, he's holy, he's long-suffering,
and here's one, he's not willing that any should perish
but that all should come under the knowledge of the truth.
That is one of the spirits of the Lord,
that is the spirit of the Lord,
that they should repent and believe the gospel.
And so you know what's gonna motivate me to go out and preach the gospel
is having that same spirit of the Lord that says,
hey, I'm not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance,
that all should come to the acknowledging of the truth,
that many should be saved,
and so by that same spirit empowering me,
I have boldness to go out there and preach the gospel.
I have a desire to be righteous.
I have a desire to be holy.
I have a desire to do that which is pleasing unto God
because I have the spirit of the Lord.
That is what the Bible is referencing,
and that's what's gonna truly motivate someone
to live the Christian life.
It's not a 12-step program.
It's not walking down here
and me slapping you on the forehead
and saying, shalalalala.
No, no, no.
It's the spirit of the Lord coming upon you
and not just the spirit of the Lord.
What are other spirits?
The spirit of wisdom.
What is the spirit of wisdom?
It's knowing what to do,
and boy, is that useful.
Isn't it useful when you just know exactly what to do?
The spirit of understanding, what is that?
That's knowing why you're doing that.
Not only is it helpful to know what to do,
sometimes it's really helpful to know
why you're doing that and why that works
or why that's the reason why
you should be doing what you're doing.
You also have the spirit of counsel.
What is the spirit of counsel?
It's your ability to tell others what to do.
So not only do you know what to do,
not only do you know why you're doing it,
but you also are capable of instructing others
and helping them to know what to do.
This is a great package so far of these four.
What will be these four?
How about soul winning?
The spirit of the Lord coming upon you
and knowing that I need to go out there
and preach the gospel,
having the wisdom to be a soul winner,
understanding that that's how people go to heaven
and that's the main job that you have in your life,
and then the ability of having that spirit of counsel
to where you can take other people with you
and you can train them to be soul winners too.
Not only should you care about being a soul winner,
you should care about training other people
to be good soul winners too.
And I think that sometimes our carnal nature,
we almost want to think like,
oh, I'm a better soul winner than this person
or I'm better than other people,
as opposed to thinking,
I want to help this person get better
or I want to motivate someone to be even better than me
or help them or work on their soul winning.
You might think like,
I should get every door because I'm better,
but maybe you should want other people,
your silent partner, to get the door
to train them and to help them
and to encourage them to become a great soul winner too.
Everybody's at a different stage in their soul winning.
We can all get better and the spirit of counsel
is one that's coming alongside other believers
and trying to help them and encourage them
and iron sharpening iron and us being better.
And that's the spirit of the Lord
where he wants us to counsel one another.
What's another spirit?
The spirit of might.
That's the courage and the boldness
to do what's right when there's opposition,
when there's persecution, when there's tribulation,
when there's forces opposing you,
you have the might of the Lord to just do it anyways,
do difficult things.
You have the spirit of knowledge.
That's information.
It's great to know about a lot of subjects.
Isn't that great that the Bible
is so broad in its application
that you truly can learn about so many different subjects,
cover so many different topics,
and one of the aspects of the spirit of the Lord
or the spirit that he gives us
is the spirit of knowledge
and that spirit of knowledge is in all areas of life.
You know, the Bible is a complete book.
I'm not against reading other books.
I think you should read as much as you can,
but generally speaking,
there is not some really needful information out there
that the Bible does not cover.
The Bible truly covers every area of life
and all godliness and all righteousness.
You could truly only have the Bible
and you would have everything you need.
It's not to say that you shouldn't learn more
or you couldn't have more,
but you know what,
it's great to have the spirit of knowledge
and here's the thing,
the Holy Ghost will come and teach you
and guide you into all truth.
He'll help you understand all kinds of different things
and have a great breadth of knowledge.
And lastly, the fear of the Lord.
This is one that's an attitude
that cares about God
and recognizes the rewards and consequences of our actions
because you could have, think about this,
you could have all first six spirits
and without the spirit of the fear of the Lord,
you're not going to do any of it.
You could know like,
hey, I have the same desire for people to be saved
and I have the capability,
I have the wisdom to get people saved
and I know why it's important to get people saved
and I could tell other people how to get saved,
I could teach other people to be soul winners
and I have the courage and the boldness to do it
and I have the knowledge about all things in the Bible
but I just don't want to do it.
But you know what,
the spirit of the fear of the Lord
will come alongside all of those others
and say, you know what,
you need to get your butt out there and soul win.
Hey, you need to fear God tonight.
You need to recognize
that there is a consequence to your actions
and we need to fear God.
Yeah, I'm not fearing him like I'm going to go to hell.
I can't go to hell.
I've already been saved.
You know what, I should still fear God.
He is still a God to be feared
and the Bible even says that judgment
must first begin at the house of God.
You know, it's not like God just decides
that now that you're saved,
he'll never judge you or punish you
or do anything to you.
In fact, it's a fearful thing
to fall in the hands of the living God.
And you know what causes you to fear God?
The spirit of the fear of the Lord.
And you say, where do you get
the spirit of the fear of the Lord?
From the Old Testament and the New Testament.
And in fact, you probably need
a lot more Old Testament to help increase your fear.
People talk about how he's so harsh in the Old Testament.
Well, maybe you need that, okay?
I don't even think that's true necessarily
but even if it is true, objectively speaking,
you know, we need both oil.
We need the oil from the old,
we need the oil from the new to give us that spirit.
And of course, you know,
the Holy Ghost is the author of this book, folks.
The inspiration of God came by the spirit of God.
And you know what, that's what we have.
We have the Holy Ghost speaking to us
with the word of God
and that is what's gonna give us these seven spirits
and embolden us to go out there
and preach the gospel, to live a Christian life.
You know, this church is not gonna be successful
without the spirit of God.
This book is, the reason why it's so wonderful
is because of the inspiration of God.
Because that inspiration was coming from the Holy Ghost.
You know why the other versions aren't good?
Because they're not inspired.
And you say, oh, you sound like a ruckmanite.
No, look, anything can be inspired
as long as it's translating the original correctly.
You know what I love?
That the translators to the reader,
what they said about the Bible.
I wanna read this for you.
This is from the translation
out of the Hebrew and Greek and Latin.
This is the section in the translators to the reader
that they wrote.
This is what they said.
If you ask what they had before them,
truly, it was the Hebrew text
of the Old Testament, the Greek of the new.
So they're explaining that original Latin translation
by Jerome and what they used to translate it.
He said they translated truly
the Hebrew of the Old Testament
and the Greek of the New Testament.
That's where they got the Latin.
This is what they say about that Hebrew and that Greek.
These are the two golden pipes,
or rather conduits,
where through the olive branches
empty themselves into the gold.
That's what they said
about the Old and the New Testament.
Even the translators to the reader
are referencing and recognizing
what Zechariah chapter number four
clearly is teaching here
of the Word of God
pouring that Holy Spirit into the Bible
and how the Bible itself
is that source of the Holy Spirit.
And you wanna be filled with the Spirit?
Read your Bible.
It's not what the Pentecostals say.
It's not what the Charismaniacs say.
It's not what a lot of weirdos say today.
You know what?
The Holy Spirit is gonna come
and He's going to reveal more truth to you
the more you're reading His Word
and you're studying His Word
and meditating on His Word.
That is how you become filled with the Spirit.
I mean, how does the Bible say
to be filled with the Spirit?
Speaking to yourselves in psalms,
hymns, and spiritual songs,
singing, making melody in your heart
unto the Lord.
The Bible says singing the Bible
will literally fill you with the Spirit.
Singing Pantera will do the opposite.
Singing the world's music today.
And frankly speaking, our world loves music.
People listen to music all day, every day.
They're constantly singing
all kinds of different messages.
You know what the Bible is saying?
We should be filling ourselves with this book
and with these words and that Spirit
and that's what's gonna give this church,
that's what's gonna give
our Christian life success
is the Spirit of God.
These two olive trees pouring their oil
into that candlestick.
What is that candlestick?
It's our church.
You know, our church,
even though it's not that big in my opinion,
I mean, it's a pretty medium,
small, medium-sized church,
think about all the things that we're doing.
I mean, we've got a church plant
in Houston right now
that's looking to, very soon,
very likely,
Brother Salvador is going to take on that church
and be its pastor.
We're trying to transition
and send Brother Oz up in Oklahoma City.
Start a church up there.
We have an evangelist in the Philippines
that's doing a great work over there.
We're training up more people here.
We're building a church here.
We're going soul winning
all kinds of different areas.
We've done foreign missions trips.
I mean, just think about
all the works that we've done.
The only reason
we could have done those works,
the only reason
we're gonna continue doing works like that
is because of the work
and the power of the Holy Spirit.
It's the Holy Spirit
that is giving us this success.
And we don't want to,
we don't want to be ignorant
of what's causing our success.
We want the spirit of understanding.
We want to know why
we're having success.
It's gonna come from
this book specifically,
and it's gonna come
from the Holy Spirit.
Look at the churches
that aren't using this oil.
Show me the churches
that are not using
the King James Bible oil,
and I'll show you
a church that's dead,
that's burnt out,
that isn't using this oil.
That's burnt out,
that isn't shining
a bright light,
that isn't doing
much work for the Lord.
And then you know what?
Look at the churches
that are bright
and shining light,
and I guarantee you
this is a lot of the oil
that's being poured
on that church.
That's why we're
King James only.
I mean, they want to,
they want to sit here
and talk about
all the different
existing manuscripts,
and let's talk about
the comma Johannium,
and let's talk about
all these different
fancy theological terminologies.
Let's talk about this text,
and this Greek,
and this Syriac,
and whatever,
and they're just ignoring
the giant issue
that's super evident
is that this book
is producing results,
and the other books
are producing trash,
literal trash,
literal false doctrine.
Some of those wicked
churches we've ever
seen in our lives
are being produced
by these modern versions.
You run into people,
and they're just like,
I don't use any,
I just use all the
versions or whatever.
They're always
screwed up on doctrine.
They don't care
about church.
They don't care about God.
They don't care
about the candlestick.
Why?
Because their candlestick
is burnt out,
and if we want our church
to brightly shine
the word of God,
we better adhere
to this book specifically,
the King James Bible,
and we better appreciate
it for what it is,
and recognize that this
is what's giving us success,
and this is what will
continue to give us success.
A lot of churches today,
they're trying to figure out
how to bring more people in.
They're trying to figure
out how to grow.
They're trying to figure
out how to reach people,
and they're trying to come
up with things that have
nothing to do with this book.
All the different programs
and activities and all
the different strategies
and marketing ploys
and business ideas,
and let's be more ecumenical.
Let's preach softer.
Let's bring in the movies,
literally.
Let's dress up for
the football game,
and let's try to bring
people in because people
like football games,
so we'll dress up
like the Cowboys,
and we'll dress up
like the Chiefs,
and we'll bring people in,
but you know what?
Yes, because they're not
doing it with this book.
You say, well, you're not
bringing people in
with that book.
Well, you know what?
I don't care how many
people I'm bringing in.
I care if I'm being
successful according
to God's word,
and frankly speaking,
we are bringing people in,
so you're wrong anyways.
You're double wrong,
but you know what?
I don't want to bring in
a bunch of people
that don't want this book.
I don't want to bring
a whole bunch of people
in that don't want
to go soul winning.
I don't want to bring in
a whole bunch of people
that think the earth
is flat, okay?
It's like, man, you seem
really mad and angry
about that.
Good.
You seem unapproachable
about that.
I hope so.
It doesn't seem like
it's a friendly environment.
Good.
You know, I don't want
to have a friendly
environment to false doctrine.
I don't want to have
a friendly environment
to other Bible versions.
I don't want to have
a friendly environment
to false doctrine.
You know what?
I want to be hostile
to all of those things
because we want to
keep our oil pure.
We have the pure
words of God.
Sounds like a good name
for a church,
but you know what?
We're not going
to change from them.
We're using the same
oil and it works
and I love it.
Go back to Zechariah
chapter number four.
What a great vision
that we have here
mentioned at the beginning
and the end
of this specific chapter
in Zechariah
chapter number four.
It gets me fired up
and it helps me to think,
you know, we need
to get more spiritual,
not less.
Like, if we want
to be successful
in this Christian life,
we want to do things
that are pleasing to God,
not the spirit
and having the right
spirit and having
God's spirit, okay?
And I think that
when we have God's
spirit, everything else
is going to fix itself.
We're going to have
to worry about
all the problems.
There's too many
problems to fix
in this world.
There's too many
things to think about.
You know, God
tries to emphasize this
in the New Testament
and Jesus Christ
mentions this many times
about like tomorrow
worrying about itself.
You know, I think
that sometimes we just
get so fixated
on all the problems
and all the issues
and trying to regulate
everything and micromanage
everything, and it's
really just as simple
as just like getting
the right spirit,
just having the right
spirit and being,
drawing close to God
and just working
on your spiritual life,
that everything else
just starts to fall in place.
And when you get
away from God,
your problems just magnify
and they get out of control
and you think like,
oh, I got to keep
working on all those
problems to fix them.
And it's like, no, no,
this is the leak
in the boat.
You know, it's right here.
You just need to get
this back in order
and everything else
and slowly trickle back
into the right place.
Look what it says
in verse number four.
So I answered and spake
to the angel that talked
to me saying,
what are these my Lord?
Now he doesn't really
answer it yet.
He answers it later,
but so I just,
I didn't read that verse yet,
but verse five,
then the angel that talked
with me answered
and said unto me,
knowest thou not
what these be?
And I said, no, my Lord.
Then he answered
and spake unto me saying,
this is the word
of the Lord
unto Zerubbabel,
saying not by might,
nor by power,
but by my spirit,
saith the Lord of hosts.
So notice he's saying,
specifically,
it's not by
your physical ability.
It's not by your power,
but it's by his spirit.
What does that mean?
This is in context
of what we just brought up.
What is gonna give
our church access?
It's not our power.
It's not our might.
It's the spirit of God.
So I think of it
just personally,
if I just take this
as my own personal,
I think what's gonna
make me successful
as a preacher?
My ability to preach,
my strength,
my might,
my mental prowess,
my ability,
my creativity.
Nope.
The only thing
that will give me success
is if I have
the spirit of God.
That's what's gonna
give me success.
When I go soul winning,
what's gonna make me
a great soul winner?
It's not my power
and might.
It's me having
the spirit of the Lord,
the spirit of God
in my heart,
and being filled
with the spirit.
That's what's gonna
make me more successful
as a soul winner.
If you think like,
oh, I'm gonna be
a good soul winner
because I'm really smart
and really good
at talking,
that may not
give you success.
What's gonna give you
success is being filled
with the spirit of God.
And sometimes you see
people that are not
very gifted as far
as how they speak.
Maybe they're a little shy.
Maybe they're not
the most articulate.
They don't have
the most ability.
But you know what?
They really love God
and they have
the right spirit
and they're just
a good soul winner.
Because again,
it's not by power.
It's not by might.
It's by what?
It's by his spirit.
And you look at
a church like ours
and you say,
oh, well what power
do y'all have?
Not much.
What might
do y'all have?
Not much.
You know what?
Little is much
when God is in it.
Well, how much
money do you have?
We're broke.
But you know what?
We're rich
and you know what?
That is what's
going to give us
success.
I guarantee,
if we were to evaluate
all the churches
in our area,
we are at the bottom
of the list,
financially speaking.
I mean, there's
probably very few
churches that have
less money than us.
Okay?
But you know what?
Who cares about that?
It's not about money.
We're poor,
but you know what?
We're rich in faith.
And you know what?
That's what
God is going to use
and that's what
God is going to
cause people
to do great works
but they're rich
in the Spirit.
They're rich in faith.
You know, some of the
best soul winners
in our church
don't have much money.
Like they're not like,
it's not like
there's a correlation of
I've noticed like
all the rich people
in our church,
they're the most
plugged in and they're
doing the most
soul winning.
Nope, it's usually
not that case.
Now there's exceptions
to every rule,
but at the same time,
you know, you
probably find it
somewhere in the
middle or maybe
even trending towards
the lowest income
numbers, the people
that are doing
the most for God,
the people that are
most plugged in,
the people that are
most soul winning
and generally speaking,
if we just compare
ourselves with the world,
of course that's the case.
I mean, we don't have
Elon Musk coming
down the aisle.
We don't have any
of the super wealthy,
you know, Jerry Jones
isn't planning on
a visit anytime soon.
Okay.
That's the owner
of the Cowboys.
Sorry if you didn't know.
Okay.
We don't have any
of the rich billionaire.
I mean, we're not filled
with billionaires
and millionaires
growing up.
I think like 10,
don't quote me on this.
I think it's around 10 to 15%
of the United States
has over a million
dollar net worth.
So if you think about it,
that's a pretty
high percentage
if you think about it.
I mean, 15% potentially.
I mean, that would be
one out of every 10 people
is a millionaire.
Yet I guarantee that's
not the size of the
percentages that we have.
Okay.
Why?
Because you know what?
Rich people, they care
better than they do serving God.
And people that are
really athletic,
they're usually not coming
down the aisle either.
They're out playing games,
aren't they?
They're playing
at the Cowboys stadium, right?
We're not filled with
a bunch of star athletes
and the smartest people
and the richest people.
You know what our church
is filled with?
The spirit of God.
And that's what
he's trying to say.
It's not by might.
It's not by power.
It's by his spirit.
You know what?
You look through the centuries.
It was never the strongest.
It was never the smartest.
It was never the richest
that did great things for God.
It was the people
that had great faith.
Those were the ones
that did great things for God.
It wasn't Goliath.
Goliath got his head
chopped off.
It was David who was
little in Goliath's sight.
But you know what?
He had a humble spirit,
a humble attitude,
and he was right with God,
and so God used him greatly.
It was by his spirit.
David was, of course,
I'm sure, capable physically,
but the reason why
he won battles was not
because of his physical prowess.
It was because of the spirit
that was upon him.
It was because he was
filled with God's spirit.
And you know what?
In this world and this life,
it is not based on
who you are physically.
It's based on
who you are spiritually.
And I love this message
because that means that
no matter where you are
physically and you find yourself,
that's not holding you
back from serving God.
Anybody can be greatly
used by God right now
if they would humble themselves
and fill themselves
with God's spirit
and allow him to do
a mighty work in your life.
And that's the message here
of Zechariah is how
the spirit is what's
going to give you
great success.
You say, hey, I'm not
as gifted as other Christians.
That doesn't matter.
If you allow the Holy Spirit
to work in your life,
you can do
greater works than them.
You know, the best pastors
in this world are not
going to be those
who are the smartest
or the best might physically
or the best orators.
It's going to be the people
that allow the spirit
to work through them
the most.
The best evangelists,
the best missionaries,
the best deacons,
the best soul winning
captains, the best
of the soul winners
in this world are going
to be the people that
care more about the
spirit than the physical.
And we need to stop
worrying about the
physical so much and
worry about the spiritual
and worry about being
filled with the
spirit of God.
By getting on our knees
and praying and asking
God to fill us
with his spirit.
By humbling ourselves
and saying it's not
by my might or power.
I can't even do it.
I'm weak.
But you know what?
I'm willing.
I may be weak,
but I'm willing.
Hear my Lord.
Send me.
And God is trying
to communicate this
message to them because why?
There are small people
without any power.
I mean the children
of Israel are returning
out of captivity.
They're slaves.
They're not coming out
with great riches.
They're not coming out
with a big net worth.
They're not coming out
as a mighty nation.
They're coming back
as scavengers.
They're small.
They're regrouping.
They don't have
hardly any wealth,
any assets, anything.
But he's saying,
well, it's not gonna
be by power might.
Lucky for y'all,
it's gonna be by my spirit.
And with my spirit upon you,
you're gonna have success.
You know, we could look
at our church and say like,
oh, you guys don't have
a lot of money,
and y'all don't have
a lot of assets,
and you don't have
a lot of wonderful people,
you know, physically speaking.
Okay.
You know what?
It's not by that.
It's by his spirit anyways.
So nuts to that.
And in fact,
God likes to use things
that are weak
just to give him
more glory anyways,
just to give him
more honor anyways.
So instead of looking
at it through carnal eyes,
why don't we look at it
through spiritual eyes?
Look at verse seven.
Who art thou,
O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel,
thou shalt become a plain,
and he shall bring forth
the headstone thereof
with shoutings,
crying grace, grace unto it.
Now what is this
in reference to?
Well, I believe that
that mountain is in reference
to the nation
of Israel specifically.
This kingdom of Israel.
And this is a prophecy
about what's gonna happen
in the future.
What's gonna happen to Israel?
It's gonna become
a great mountain.
It is a great mountain,
but it's gonna become a plain.
It's gonna become
nothing at some point.
And specifically,
notice before Zerubbabel,
thou shalt become a plain.
So somehow through Zerubbabel
is what's gonna cause them
to end up going from
being a mountain
unto a plain.
Why is he bringing this up?
Well, they're gonna
rebuild Jerusalem,
and then Jerusalem's gonna
become a great place again.
Jerusalem's gonna become
a great mountain,
gonna become a great country,
gonna become a great nation
upon the earth again,
and they're gonna have
prosperity,
and they're gonna have success,
and they're gonna have
a multitude of people
in their nation again.
They're gonna be restored.
But through Zerubbabel,
they're gonna become a plain.
Okay?
And specifically,
it also says here,
and he shall bring forth
the headstone.
Who's the he?
Zerubbabel.
It's saying,
Zerubbabel shall bring forth
the headstone.
What is this in reference?
Well, go to
Matthew chapter one.
Keep your finger,
and go to
Matthew chapter one.
What does the Bible say
in Luke,
and I'll just read for you,
in Luke chapter number three,
verse 27,
the Bible says,
which was the son of Joanna,
which was the son of Risa,
which was the son of Zerubbabel,
which was the son of Salathiel.
So in the lineage
of the Lord Jesus Christ,
you know who's in there?
Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel is a,
I guess a grandfather,
in a sense,
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ
is a descendant of Zerubbabel.
Matthew chapter number one
gives testimony to the same thing.
Matthew chapter one,
look at verse number 17.
So all the generations
from Abraham to David
are 14 generations,
and from David
unto the carrying away
into Babylon are 14 generations,
and from the carrying away
into Babylon unto Christ
are 14 generations.
So you have these 14 generations.
Notice there was a breaking point
of the carrying away
into Babylon, okay?
And then there's another 14
that are coming after this.
Go back to verse 11.
It says,
in Josias begat Jeconias
and his brethren
about the time
they were carried away
to Babylon.
So the children of Israel
were carried into Babylon.
They were there for 70 years.
So of course,
there's gonna be
a couple generations
that go through
this Babylonian time, right?
And who is that?
Well, verse 12,
and after they were brought
to Babylon,
Jeconias begat
Salathiel,
and Salathiel begat who?
Zerubbabel,
and Zerubbabel begat Abioth.
So Salathiel in captivity
is giving birth
to Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel's growing up,
but then he's returning
back into the Promised Land,
and who is gonna
come down the pike
through Zerubbabel
is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is that headstone.
And that headstone
is gonna end up causing
that great mountain
to become a plain.
Now, I wanna prove that
in a moment.
Keep your finger in Matthew.
Go to Psalm 118 for a second.
Go to Psalm 118.
We have some great prophecies
here of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 118,
look at verse 22.
The stone which
the builders refused
is become the headstone
of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing.
It is marvelous in our eyes.
The Bible is saying
that there is a stone
which the builders refused,
and it's become
the headstone of the corner.
That's a really,
really powerful verse
if we unpack what it's saying.
And if we think about it,
what was mentioned
in Zechariah 3?
A stone with seven eyes.
That was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, who are the builders
here that it's referencing?
I believe, in general,
it's talking about
the religious leaders.
And specifically,
it'd be the children of Israel.
They all count.
But specifically,
the religious leaders.
And the leaders,
in a carnal sense,
in a building construction,
they're the builders, right?
They're the ones that are
crafting the architect
and the contractor
and the master planner.
These individuals,
they're the ones deciding
how to build this property.
And whenever you're
building a building,
you have what's called
the cornerstone,
or the headstone.
This is specifically
the first stone laid
to set everything else up.
Because once you lay
the headstone,
then every other stone
has to go and perfectly
match it, right?
All the different lines,
all the lines from the length
to the width
to the breadth to the height,
all of the other stones
are going to be
based on this one stone.
So you've got to get
that one set
exactly how you want,
measured in,
dialed in,
perfectly level,
perfectly stable.
Like that's what
everything else is going
to be built based upon,
is this specific headstone.
And it's saying
the builders rejected
this stone,
and then what happened to it?
What did it say?
It became the headstone
of the corner.
Meaning when it got rejected,
a new building got constructed.
Something new
is being built now.
By them refusing it
is what's literally causing
a completely new construction,
and that thing
that got rejected
is what's going to start
something new,
a new building project.
Okay?
Go if you would
to Matthew chapter number 21.
Go to Matthew chapter number 21.
So I think we've
heard that verse a lot,
but I think
when you slow down
and really think about
what it's saying,
it's kind of powerful.
Matthew 21,
look at verse 42.
Jesus saith unto them,
Did ye never read
in the scriptures
the stone which
the builders rejected?
The same is become
the head of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous
in our eyes.
So there's a quote.
He's quoting that verse.
Then what does it say?
Therefore, say I unto you,
the kingdom of God
shall be taken from you
and given to a nation
bringing forth
the fruits thereof,
and whosoever shall fall
on this stone
shall be broken,
but on whomsoever
it shall fall,
it will grind him to powder.
So what is Jesus Christ
trying to teach them here?
He's trying to teach them
how they're gonna reject him,
and by rejecting him,
he is gonna end up
becoming the headstone
or the cornerstone
of a new structure.
And what is that
new structure?
The New Testament.
The New Testament specifically,
which is built upon
Jesus Christ.
He's the foundation,
and we're built upon
him specifically.
And notice what he says,
that kingdom is gonna
be taken from you,
even though y'all
are a great mountain.
Israel is that great mountain.
It's gonna become a plain.
What is a plain?
It's a completely flat
piece of land.
Now, it's not a flat earth,
okay?
It's just a specific part
of the earth
that's flat in that area,
okay?
But if you think about it,
if you were to look
at a flat plain,
there is no existence
of a mountain.
There's no evidence
that a mountain
was ever there.
It's gone.
It's completely done away.
And that's exactly
what happened
when Jesus Christ
was rejected,
that the New Testament
did away with
the Old Testament
completely,
and the old nation
of Israel was
completely replaced
with a new
construction project,
and that new
construction project
was the Lord Jesus Christ.
And those who are
Christ's are Israel,
the true Jews,
the true spiritual
nation that he built.
And those that are
in the old project,
they become a plain
where they're meaningless,
worthless, gone,
completely replaced.
And he says that
he's this stone
whom they fall on,
shall be broken.
So what is this
a picture of?
It's, you know,
Jesus Christ is considered
a stumbling stone
in a sense.
A rock of offense
is what the Bible
constantly is bringing up.
And what is that offense?
What is that stumbling?
The stumbling is the fact
that you're a sinner.
So if you stumble on Jesus,
what is it trying to say?
It's like,
you can't make it.
So when you stumble on him,
you are falling here
in a sense, okay?
And you're gonna be broken.
So in the sense that,
hey, I'm a sinner,
I need a savior,
and that is the spirit
that gets saved
as a broken
and a contrite spirit
that says,
I need a savior.
And when you recognize
that Jesus
is the only one
that can save you
and accept him,
that's what saves you.
But when you say,
I don't need you,
well then he's gonna come
and he's gonna crush you
and you're gonna be
turned into powder
and be nothing.
And so the children
of Israel by and large
rejected the Lord Jesus Christ
and so he's gonna come
and take that mountain
and he's gonna crush them
into powder
to where they're gonna
be a flat plane
and they're gonna be
discarded completely.
Go over to Acts 4.
Let's read a couple
more verses on this.
Acts 4.
This is a great spiritual truth.
And really,
it helps us recognize
that Zechariah
does not teach Zionism, folks.
Teaches replacement theology.
Why?
Because the whole Bible
teaches replacement theology,
right?
Acts 4.
Look at verse 11.
This is the stone
which was set at naught
of you builders,
which has become
the head of the corner.
So even if you didn't
understand what Jesus said,
later, the disciples
they make it plain.
Hey, you know when he was
talking about these builders
rejecting?
That was you.
I know you perceived
he was talking about you
but let me just clarify
it was definitely you
that he was talking about.
You guys are the builders.
You guys set at naught
and he's become
the head of the corner.
Notice verse 12.
Neither is there salvation
in any other
for there is none other name
under heaven
given among men
whereby we must be saved.
So notice the gospel
message is tied
to this specific message
of by them rejecting
that headstone,
that cornerstone,
that is what gave us
salvation.
They rejected salvation.
They rejected the new building,
the New Testament,
the new kingdom,
the new heaven.
They rejected all of it.
And you know what?
That is what gives us
salvation.
That's why they're saying
you guys rejected it
but of course
the disciples didn't.
And what he's done
is he set up
a new kingdom,
a new spiritual priesthood
for them to enter into.
The Bible tells us
in the Old Testament
that God was going to make
a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
But very few of them
entered into that new covenant.
Very few of them
accepted that new covenant.
By and large,
they rejected that
and of course that stone
is going to come
crushing down on them.
There's liars out there
that say hey,
they have their covenant.
Nope.
You're not getting into
heaven without the new covenant.
You had to believe
in Jesus to be saved
in the Old Testament
and in the New Testament.
Go to 1 Peter,
chapter number 2.
Go to 1 Peter,
chapter number 2.
In the Old Testament,
they believed
in the coming Messiah
and in the New Testament,
we believe in this
Messiah that's come.
Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh.
And those who deny that
are anti-Christ.
And you know what
the spirit of anti-Christ was
before the New Testament?
Denying the Messiah
was coming.
Those who didn't
believe in a Messiah,
didn't have a Messiah,
okay, or a Messiah
that was going to
come cartily
and they rejected
the Messiah that was there.
You know what?
The spirit of anti-Christ
is alive and well today
where they reject
the Messiah that came.
You know what?
Our Messiah has already come.
The Messiah has already come.
There's no other Messiah
and so we have to
believe in Him to be saved
and that's what causes us
to be a part
of a spiritual Israel.
1 Peter 2 mentions this
a little bit.
Look at verse 3.
If so be he had tasted
that the Lord is gracious.
Do you remember what it said
in Zechariah chapter 4
about this headstone?
He said something.
Grace!
Grace unto it.
Why?
Because that is what
gives us salvation
is this headstone
which is giving us grace
and that grace
is coming through the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
and we taste that
the Lord is gracious unto us
by giving us salvation,
by giving us
the Lord Jesus Christ.
In what ways
is there this grace?
Well, think about this.
When the Lord Jesus Christ
was born,
it was goodwill towards men.
It was the grace of God
that sent Jesus Christ
to this earth.
That's part of the grace.
Another grace is the fact
that we get salvation,
that salvation is a free gift
by grace and another aspect
of grace is this,
that us as Gentiles,
we get to get into
the new covenant
by grace specifically
and that's what
he's mentioning here
to these Gentiles
is how we can taste
that the Lord is gracious.
Verse four,
to whom coming
has unto a living stone
disallowed indeed of men
but chosen of God
and precious.
Disallowed meaning
they rejected,
indeed meaning truly.
So he was truly
rejected of men.
Jesus was rejected
by the Jews.
They'll want to say
we didn't reject anybody.
No, they rejected
the Lord and Savior.
They rejected God
manifest in the flesh.
They rejected the miracles
that Jesus Christ
performed before their eyes.
They rejected the words
which he spake
and they couldn't gainsay
nor resist the spirit
by which he spake.
All they could do
was kill him.
He was disallowed indeed of men
but chosen of God
and precious.
He also as lively stones
are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood
to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ.
Wherefore also it is
contained in the Scripture,
Behold, I lay in Zion
a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious,
and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded.
Undo you therefore
which believe he is precious,
but unto them
which be disobedient,
the stone which the
builders disallowed,
the same is made
the head of the corner,
and a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense,
even to them
which stumble at the word.
Being disobedient,
whereunto also
they were appointed.
But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood,
an holy nation,
a peculiar people,
that ye should show forth
the praise of him
who hath called you
out of darkness
into his marvelous light,
which in time past
were not a people,
but are now the people of God
which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy.
So there's us as Gentiles
getting in on the New Testament,
now we've obtained mercy,
grace, grace be unto it,
the grace that came
by Jesus Christ
to allow us in,
and specifically the Jews,
notice in verse number eight,
it was a rock
of offense unto them,
meaning what?
Specifically to them
which stumble at the word,
meaning that they reject
the word of God,
they reject the gospel,
they reject what Jesus Christ
had said,
and they were disobedient
unto the gospel message,
and they were appointed
to do so,
meaning God knew
it would happen.
God knew that they
would be,
I mean he wrote about it
in Psalms, didn't he?
That the builders would reject
the headstone of the corner.
Go back to Zechariah
chapter number four.
It's kind of interesting
because in Zechariah
he's giving them
a positive message,
but then he's also giving
them an inevitable truth
that hey, I'm gonna rebuild you
and restore you
and they're gonna have peace
and this is gonna happen,
but the whole reason
is so that I can bring
in the branch.
The whole reason is
so I can bring in the stone
and when that happens
you guys are gonna reject it.
You know that's actually
the exact same way
it happened in the Old Testament.
He gave them the
Old Testament law
and then at the end
of the Old Testament
if you remember,
Moses said very clearly,
you guys are gonna break this
and not follow it
and be disobedient
and God's gonna have
to make a new covenant
with y'all.
So every time
he's kind of
telling them this
and I think it's the same
thing that we hear
even today in the New Testament
if you think about it,
for all of sin
and come short
of the glory of God.
No one can keep
God's covenant.
We all just recognize
we're all gonna break it,
but those who accept the fact
that they're gonna break it
will embrace salvation.
Those who think
they're good enough
will reject the gospel
and try to earn it
by their works of the law.
Zechariah
chapter number four
let's read verse seven again
now that we've talked
about all that.
Who art thou,
O great mountain?
That's Israel.
Before Zerubabel
thou shalt become a plane.
That's replacement theology.
And he,
talking about Zerubabel,
shall bring forth
the headstone.
That's talking about
the descendants of Jesus Christ
is gonna come
through the lineage
specifically of Zerubabel.
Therefore,
I'm sorry,
thereof with shoutings,
crying,
grace,
grace unto it
and talking about
what he's bringing forth.
This headstone
is gonna be grace
cause Jesus Christ
is the grace
that came unto all men.
The salvation
is the grace
that came unto all men
and he extends to us
grace.
The grace of God
that came unto all men.
Verse eight,
Moreover,
the word of the Lord
came unto me saying,
The hands of Zerubel
have laid this,
or laid the foundation
of this house.
His hands also
shall finish it
and thou shalt know
that the Lord of hosts
has sent me unto you.
So he's saying,
hey,
Zerubel started this project.
He's gonna finish it.
You guys
are gonna definitely
get this thing done.
Verse number nine,
the hands of Zerubabel have,
I'm sorry,
verse 10,
For who hath despised
the day of small things?
That's an interesting question.
This is what I believe
that this verse is saying
and this is,
maybe there's other ideas,
but this is what I was thinking
he was saying here.
In order for Zerubabel
to finish this project,
they have to start again, right?
They have to rebuild.
If you think about the context
of the book of Zechariah
that we've been talking about,
they had been stopped for a while
through the commandment
of Artaxerxes.
But in order to finish,
they have to start again.
And in a building project,
not every day
is the start or the finish.
You're gonna have
a lot of days in between.
And a lot of those days
are arguably maybe
the small days, right?
It's just a regular Tuesday
or a regular Wednesday
or you're just
doing some menial,
supposed task
or you're just
doing little things.
Not everybody's
gonna be a big day
because then it
wouldn't be a big day.
You can't have a big day
without a bunch of small days.
But you know what?
You'll never have a big day
without the small days.
If you never go back
and start building again
and start doing the hard work,
then you're never gonna have
that big day
if we finished it.
You're never gonna have
that grand finale
of now here we are.
And the same can be said
with anything.
How about our church?
We're never gonna have
that big day
or have those big conferences
or have those big things
without the small days.
And who is it that
despises the small day?
Who is it that despises?
Well, this isn't Sunday morning.
This isn't the big service.
Okay, well, who despises
the small day,
the Wednesday night Bible study?
Who is it that despises
the Sunday night service?
Who is it that despises
the Spanish service?
Who is it that despises
the soul winning
when it's not necessarily
the marathon?
Well, you know what?
You're never gonna have
the big days
without the small days.
You know, you're never
gonna be that guy
that wins the championship
without all those practices,
without all those workouts,
without all the small things
that you built up to.
You wanna have great children?
Well, you don't start
with great children.
You're gonna have
a lot of small days.
Takes all the small days
to build up.
And you know what?
He's trying to tell you,
hey, put in the work
right now,
put in the small days now,
and then you'll have big days.
You'll have the big
payoffs later.
You're never gonna reap
what you sow.
But who's the person
that despises the small days?
It's the guy that doesn't
ever have any big days too.
Never gonna accomplish
anything in his life.
Who has despised
the day of small things?
For they shall rejoice
and shall see the plummet
in the hand of Zerubel
with those seven.
They are the eyes of the Lord
which run to and fro
through the whole earth.
So he's saying,
hey, don't despise
the small days.
You will rejoice.
He's saying, hey,
if you put in the work,
if you do it right,
if you start working now,
you're gonna have
that day of rejoicing.
Just kind of like
our Christian life.
You know, you could despise
all the days
of your life right now,
but let me tell you something.
If you put in the hard work,
there will be a day
of rejoicing in the future.
Even if it's not
this side of heaven,
there will be a day
of rejoicing
and you will have loved
that you put in the work
for all those small days.
And we'll have the big day
when Christ returns.
We'll have the big day
when he hands out his rewards.
You know what?
It takes faith to recognize
that day that's coming.
And he's trying to motivate
the children of Israel,
let's rebuild.
We're gonna have success
only by his spirit,
not by our might.
And there's gonna be a day
when you're gonna see
the plummet in the hand
of Zerubel with those seven.
What is a plummet?
A plummet is a device
used to measure things vertically, okay?
So, on our planet,
we have a thing called gravity.
Yeah, sorry, flat tards.
You're never gonna understand this.
And in order to measure things
when they're building them vertically,
you know, they didn't have
the fancy levels
that you have the day
with the bubble,
but what they have
as a device is a plummet.
And what a plummet does
is you basically get a string,
you tie it to a lead weight,
and then you drop it,
but you hold onto the string.
And you know what gravity
will do for you?
It'll give you
a perfectly straight line.
It'll give you
a perfectly vertical line
perpendicular to the ground
through the process of gravity.
So throughout time,
builders and people
that were constructing projects
used plummets to make sure.
Well, what is he measuring?
Well, you put that headstone in,
well, you're gonna be
building and stacking on it.
So what does this plummet do?
It helps you make sure
that all of those
are perfectly level,
that you're not getting
a little bit off
like the Leaning Tower of Pisa
or something, okay?
You don't want to have
that kind of a building
construction.
Who even built it?
I don't know.
I don't think anybody
wanted to take credit
for that one, okay?
It's like you want to take
credit for the things
that are straight, right?
Not the things
that are a fag.
It's crooked, sorry.
Right, everybody likes
the straight things,
okay, in life.
And here this plummet
is helping to make sure
and to measure,
and he's saying,
the Rubel's gonna
have this plummet.
He's gonna measure this thing
and we're gonna see
that it's perfectly constructed.
We're gonna see that
there's nothing wanting,
that everything lines up,
okay, and specifically
mentions here also
with those seven,
they are the eyes of the Lord
which run to and fro
through the whole earth.
So what do I do
with the plummet?
As I'm building
a construction project,
you know what I'm doing?
I'm checking to make sure
that everything's right.
I'm checking to make sure
that everything's
level,
and here's a word
that is plum.
Have you ever heard that?
Is it plum?
Meaning is it square?
Is it fit right?
And that's where
that's coming from.
It's coming from this
specific term that
it fits plum, okay.
Well, he's referencing
this as the seven spirits
or the seven eyes
that are the Lord
that are running to and fro
throughout the whole earth.
That's a verse that
we've heard a lot,
haven't we?
You've probably heard it.
That's kind of a famous
verse that you
Well, I want to go
to one other place
and we'll be finished
because we've already
talked about
the other verses,
but go with the
Second Chronicles
chapter number 16.
Second Chronicles
chapter number 16.
I think he's referencing
the plummet to give us
a spiritual truth here,
and what is
that spiritual truth?
The spiritual truth
is just like a builder
will use a plummet
to make sure everything
is lined up, perfect,
and exactly where
it's supposed to fit
and put into
the construction project
God's seven spirits
or the eyes of the Lord
are doing the
exact same thing.
Now, Second Chronicles
chapter 16 gives us
a little more insight,
but it uses the
same wording, okay?
That's why I want
to use this verse.
Look at verse nine.
For the eyes of the Lord
run to and fro
throughout the whole earth
to show himself strong
in the behalf of them
whose heart is
perfect toward him.
Herein, thou is done
foolishly.
Therefore, from henceforth
thou shalt have worth.
So the Bible references
again that same idea
of the eyes of the Lord
running to and fro
throughout the whole earth.
Now, this does not mean
that the eyes of the Lord
literally have legs
and are really running, okay?
What is it saying?
It's trying to give us
this idea of how God
is constantly measuring things,
and he's testing things,
and he's trying to make sure
that they are right,
that they're square,
that they're level,
that they can be used
properly in this
building construction.
And when he finds one
that he can use,
well, what is he gonna do?
He's gonna show him so strong
in the behalf of them
that have their heart
perfect toward him.
So if I see a stone,
and I put a stone
on this building,
and the plummet says,
you know what?
This isn't square.
This isn't lined up.
This doesn't fit.
You know what?
I'm gonna throw it out.
I'm gonna get rid of it.
You know what?
He's only gonna keep
the stones and use the stones
that are plumb,
that are measured in there,
that are matching,
that are right.
And what he's trying to say
is God is doing
the same thing constantly
in his building construction
and saying the people
that I'm gonna use
the greatest in this world
are the people that have
a perfect heart towards him,
that are square,
that are lined up,
that are straight.
Those are the hearts
that God is gonna use
in this world,
and he's gonna use
his spirit.
His spirit is what is going
to give them success.
The spirit is constantly
measuring and evaluating us.
The Bible talks about
how God is constantly
searching and looking
for someone to use.
It's a building construction.
He's looking at all the bricks
and all the stones
and saying,
which one am I gonna use
next in this construction project?
Well, he's gonna use
the one that fits
and matches with the plummet
the same way with
the eyes of the Lord
looking in the whole earth
and saying,
what guy am I gonna use?
Where can I find a guy
that has his heart
right towards the Lord?
Where is a lady
that has her heart
right towards the Lord?
And instead of worrying
about our might
and our power
and our riches
and our carnal goodness,
and rather we should
be worried about
is my heart right with God?
I can do great things
for God
if I get my heart right.
You can do great things
for God
if you can get
your heart right.
Instead of worrying
about how to be
a great spouse,
you should worry about
is your heart right?
That'll make you
a good spouse.
You know who's gonna
be the greatest spouse?
The person that has
a heart that's willing
to allow the spirit
of the Lord to come
into that heart
and to motivate them
and to help them
to be a good spouse.
Hey, men that
desire to preach,
you know what?
How God's gonna
decide to use you?
Not you working on
your carnal skills
of being a preacher,
but rather having
your heart right with God
and allowing his spirit
to come inside of you,
being filled with the
olive branches of this book
by allowing this spirit
to be poured on you.
Hey, we want more
charity towards the
brethren, well you know what?
It's gonna come from a heart
that's allowing God's oil
and his spirit
to come upon you.
That's how you're gonna
have more charity
in this world.
You know what?
If we want people
to take church seriously,
you know what's gonna
make people
take church seriously?
Having the right oil,
having the right spirit,
being filled with
the spirit of God.
That is how we're gonna
have more people
taking church seriously,
being filled with the
Old and New Testament.
Why are we going through
the Book of Zechariah?
We're trying to get
more oil under your fire.
We need more oil
from both the Old
and the New Testament,
and we need more
of God's spirit,
and that is gonna
give us more success.
That is gonna help us
to be better spouses
and better husbands
and better wives
and better children
and better employees
and better Christians
and better soul winners
and better evangelists
and better pastors
and better teachers
and better Christians,
better everything.
It's getting our hearts
right with God
and saying it's not by power,
it's not by might,
but it's by his spirit
that's gonna give us
success in our lives.
By not despising
the small things,
but saying, you know what?
I need church.
I need the Old Testament.
I need the book of Zechariah.
I don't despise
the minor prophets.
I don't despise
the minor books of the Bible.
Well, this isn't
a cool book of the Bible.
Well, you know what?
You, by despising it,
you're not gonna be used,
because God's constantly
searching up and down
this entire area.
He's running
through this building.
He's running
through your house.
He's running through
the whole state of Texas,
and he's looking for someone
that has their heart
perfect towards him,
and he's gonna show
himself strong
on their behalf.
You know what?
I want the guy
that has cattle
on a thousand hills
to show himself
strong on my behalf.
I want the guy
that created the
entire universe
to show himself
strong on my behalf.
You know, because there's
a lot of problems
in this world.
There's a lot of enemies.
There's a lot of foes.
There's a lot of things
that are going on.
You know what?
I need his help.
It's not by my power
in mind.
It's by his spirit,
but it's that prideful
nature in our hearts
that thinks,
no, I'm smart.
No, I can make
plenty of money.
I can make all
the right decisions.
I know how to lead
my family.
I know how to lead
my life.
I know what I need to do.
You know, that person
is gonna be crushed.
It's the person
that gets on his knees
and says,
you know what, Lord?
I'm weak.
I don't have
a lot of the might.
I don't have
a lot of the power,
but you know what?
Fill me with
your Holy Spirit
so I can have
the spirit of the Lord,
so I can have
a spirit of wisdom,
so I have
a spirit of understanding,
a spirit that fears
the Lord,
the spirit of counsel.
You know, we need
a spirit of knowledge
where it gives me
information in all areas.
You know, I could press
a button to get
a trillion dollars
or just have more
of the spirit of the Lord.
You know what's gonna
make me more successful?
The spirit of the Lord
because you can lose
that money like that.
Let's ask Donald Trump
how that's working
out for him.
Ask Kanye West
how that's working
out for him.
You know, you can lose
your money just like that.
It can be taken from you.
But you know what?
They can't take
the spirit from you.
They can take your head,
but they can't
take your soul.
They can't take
that spirit.
And you know what?
Our church needs to
recognize our need
for this book,
our need for those
two olive trees,
and we need
the book of Zechariah.
Don't think like,
oh, I don't need
Zechariah Chapter 5.
I don't need
Zechariah anymore.
I don't need Leviticus.
I don't need
these things.
I need the heart that says
I want more of God's
spirit, not less.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father,
so much for giving us
this book and for giving us
the grace of your son
and the gospel message.
I pray that you would
motivate us to read
our Bibles more and to be
filled more with the oil
that's coming from this book,
from the Holy Spirit.
I pray that you would
help us to recognize
that we're not going
to have success on our own.
Our success is only
going to come from you
so that we can give you
all the honor and all the glory
and all the praise
in our victories.
I pray as we face the foe,
as we go out and continue
to strive against this world
for the gospel's sake,
that you would greatly use us
not because of our might,
not because of our power,
but because of your spirit.
And it's in your son's name
we pray in Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.
All right, for our last song
we're going to turn to
song number 227,
Saved by the Blood.
227.
Song 227,
Saved by the Blood.
Sing it out.
Saved by the blood
of the crucified one,
now ransomed from sin
and a new work begun.
Sing praise to the Father
and praise to the Son.
Saved by the blood
of the crucified one,
glory I'm saved,
my sins are all pardoned,
my guilt is all gone,
glory I'm saved,
I'm saved by the blood
of the crucified one.
Saved by the blood
of the crucified one,
the angels rejoicing
because it is done.
A child of the Father
I dare with the Son,
Saved by the blood
of the crucified one,
glory I'm saved,
my sins are all pardoned,
my guilt is all gone,
glory I'm saved,
I'm saved by the blood
of the crucified one.
Saved by the blood
of the crucified one,
the Father he spake
and his will it was done,
great prize of mine,
pardon his own precious Son.
Saved by the blood
of the crucified one,
glory I'm saved,
my sins are all pardoned,
my guilt is all gone,
glory I'm saved,
I'm saved by the blood
of the crucified one.
Saved by the blood
of the crucified one,
all hail to the Father,
all hail to the Son,
all hail to the Spirit,
the great three in one.
Saved by the blood
of the crucified one,
glory I'm saved,
my sins are all pardoned,
my guilt is all gone,
glory I'm saved,
I'm saved by the blood
of the crucified one.
Great singing everybody,
you are all dismissed.
Thank you.