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Zechariah chapter number 10, the Bible reads, Ask ye the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to everyone grass in the field. For the idols have spoken vanity and the diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams. They comfort in vain, therefore they went their way as a flock. They were troubled because there was no shepherd. So notice in verse 1 there he says, Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, so the Lord shall make bright clouds. Basically what he's saying in this verse is ask and you shall receive. Ask for the rain when you need it and God's going to give it to you. And all throughout the Bible that principle is found. The Bible says, everyone that asketh receiveth and he that knocketh, to him it shall be opened, and so on and so forth. But the problem is, according to the Bible, we have not because we ask not. Now a lot of people, they think that prayer is just some kind of an exercise to go through. You know, we talked in the last few weeks about religions who use all kinds of chanting and they do vain repetitions when they pray and things like that. But even amongst Baptists, you'll sometimes find people that have this weird doctrine that's been influenced by Calvinism, where they basically think that when we pray it doesn't really change things, it doesn't really affect the outcome. God just has his plan and it's set in stone and we just pray in order to go through some kind of an exercise, something that he was going to do anyway. But if we ask for it and then it happens, we can somehow feel like, I guess, we got our prayer answered. But what the Bible actually teaches is you have not because you ask not. He said in the book of James, he said, you lust and desire to have. He said that you fight in war, yet you have not because you ask not. And then he said you ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. So according to the Bible, if we ask and if we're asking right, then we will receive. But if we ask according to our lust, then we're not necessarily going to receive. The Bible says in that case, we may ask and have not. But the main reason why we have not, according to the Bible, is that we ask not. And a lot of people talk about how to get your prayers answered. And there have been a lot of sermons on that subject. And they'll turn to scriptures like, for example, in 1 John where it says, whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And they'll show us other scriptures that say things like that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired from him. But at the end of the day, one way to for sure not get your prayers answered is just to not ask for anything. You can talk all you want about the different qualifications. And they're important. I preach those sermons because, you know, we do need to realize that if we want God to answer our prayer, we need to keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. The Bible says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. And we also need to understand that when we pray, we need to pray according to God's will, not according to our own lust in order to get our prayers answered. And when we pray, we need to understand not to use a vain repetition, but rather to say it once and then move on to the next thing and not keep repeating the same thing over and over again in prayer where it becomes chanting, where it becomes a vain repetition. But at the end of the day, the biggest reason why people don't get their prayers answered is because they're not praying. And you know, you can keep all the commandments, but if you're not asking for anything, you're not going to receive anything. You have not because you ask not. Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Everyone that asks can receive it, meaning that God's not a respecter of persons. He'll do for one what he does for the other, but we have to ask. So he says, ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain. Well, God, why don't you just send it? No, because God wants us to ask and then he wants to give us what we ask for, but he wants us to pray. And if we don't pray, the outcome will be different than if we do pray. So praying is not just an exercise that we go through. It actually makes a difference. You are missing out on blessings from God if you're not praying. It's that simple. There are things that God could do in your life, things that God could give you that would be a blessing to you and the people around you, but because you're not asking for them, you're missing out on those blessings. That is the fact of prayer. Now look down at the Bible here, it says, ask ye of the Lord in the time of the latter rain so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to everyone grass in the field. It's almost as if God's just waiting to do something for you. He's just waiting. He wants to show himself mighty on behalf of those that love him, but he's just waiting for you to ask. And there's even a story in the Bible where he gets frustrated with King Ahaz because he tells him, ask the Lord, ask for a sign, ask for it in the heaven above, ask for it in the earth beat and Ahaz said, well, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord my God. And he said, you wearied me. What's he saying? I'm sick of you. That's what it means to be wearied with someone, right? I'm sick of you. He said, you know, you have no vision. You won't ask for anything. Whereas Hezekiah, his father, okay, he was given the chance to see a sign from God and he was asked whether he wanted the shadow to go forward or backward in the sundial by so many degrees and Hezekiah said, well, let's go for the harder miracle. Let's make it go backwards. You know, I don't know why that's harder, but in his mind it was harder. You know, maybe he just thought things speeding up is easier than turning it and making it go the other way. So God actually made it go backwards. But there's a guy who knew what to ask for. There's a guy who went for the big miracle. You know, he prayed to see something big happen and even later on in his life he prayed and had other prayers answered. You know, Hezekiah knew how to pray, whereas Ahaz is the bad example of the guy who refused to ask and he missed out on seeing the blessings and God was frustrated with him and angry. Look at verse two, for the idols have spoken vanity. So God's comparing himself with these false gods, these idols, these carved images, saying I can actually send the rain when you ask me. Whereas these false gods, they're not able to do anything for you. There are verses like that in the book of Jeremiah, for example, where he talks about how the false gods can't send you the rain when you pray to them and do your rain dance or whatever. But it says in verse two, for the idols have spoken vanity and the diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams. Now the diviners would be some kind of a soothsayer, some kind of a fortune teller, someone who claims to be able to predict the future. He says they comfort in vain, therefore they went their way as a flock. They were troubled because there was no shepherd. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds and I punished the goats, for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. So he's talking about here these diviners and these people who are having false dreams basically claiming that they've dreamed, claiming to be prophesying the word of the Lord when really they're just speaking something out of their own heart. They're just making things up and saying, hey, this is what God told me. And by the way, there are people who do that today and just say, hey, God told me this or I had this vision and they're actually just lying and speaking out of their own heart. And he's talking about how the people as a result were like a flock that had no shepherd. They didn't have good leadership. And God said that his anger was kindled against the shepherds, verse 3, and I punished the goats. Now, when he talks about the goats, the Bible will sometimes differentiate people that are saved and unsaved by sheeps and goats, right? So the sheep are the saved and the goats are the unsaved. So he's saying that these shepherds or pastors are not saved. They're goats. His anger is kindled at these false shepherds, these fake prophets, fake preachers who are actually not even saved, let alone a godly leader for his people. The word pastor literally means shepherd. That's what that English word means. That's why the word pasture is so similar because the pasture is where the cattle goes out to graze and the pastor is the one who's taking care of the sheep. And that's why the Bible said, for example, in Acts 20 when Paul is talking to the pastors, he's talking to the elders from Ephesus and these places, he says to them, take heed unto yourselves and unto the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers. Overseer is synonymous with the word bishop. And then pastor means shepherd. Also the Bible talks about how the elders that rule well, he talks about when the chief shepherd shall appear, he will give them a crown that fadeth not away. They are the under-shepherds. Pastors, I'm a pastor, I'm a shepherd of this flock, but I answer to the chief shepherd, which is Jesus Christ. Remember the Bible said in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And then in John chapter 15, Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd, right? And then in Hebrews, it said, Jesus Christ, the son of God, that great shepherd of the sheep. So that's another great proof on the deity of Christ, because in Psalm 23, David said, the Lord is my shepherd. And then Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd. And then Jesus in Hebrews called that great shepherd, not just a good shepherd, he's a great shepherd, that great shepherd of the sheep. He's the chief shepherd. Well, obviously, Jesus Christ is not physically walking and talking on this earth. So he has left us as Christians on this earth to do his will and to do his works. He said, as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. But he said unto his disciples, he said, ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and to give it light unto all that are in the house, let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. So Jesus Christ had a certain ministry that he carried out while he was on this earth to seek and save that which was lost. And then he said to his disciples at the end of his ministry, as the father hath sent me, so send I you. You're the light of the world. You're the salt of the earth. I'm sending you now. So Jesus Christ up in heaven is that great shepherd of the sheep. But down here on this earth, there are other under shepherds, the bishops, the pastors of churches that are basically to watch for the souls. What is the shepherd's job of the flock? Well, he's to lead them unto the cool waters and to lead them to the grazing grounds and to feed the flock, to oversee the flock, to guard against the wolf, right? When the enemy comes, he's there to guard against the wolf, which in the Bible represents the false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. So the pastor's job is to guard the flock, protect the flock, and also to feed them not with physical food, but rather to feed them with God's word, to feed them and nourish them with good doctrine, the Bible says. That's the pastor's job to do that. Well, there are all kinds of scriptures in the Bible rebuking the pastors who are failing to do that. You'll find a lot of this preaching in the book of Jeremiah, and then you'll find it here in the book of Zechariah, where God is saying that his anger is kindled against the shepherds. He's saying they're goats, phony pastors. They're supposed to be feeding the flock, but instead they're just abusing the flock, taking advantage of the flock. They're not even saved. Now just to give you a feel for this, flip over to chapter 11. We're in Zechariah 10, but look over at chapter 11 and look at God's anger toward the shepherds again. And remember, shepherd and pastor are synonymous in the Bible. It says in verse 8, three shepherds also I cut off in one month. And my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. Now think about that. He's talking about these shepherds that are being cut off, these bad shepherds who God's anger is kindled against them. They're actually goats themselves. They're not even saved. And notice what he says about them. He says, my soul loathed them. Now what does the word loathe mean? Now we spell this differently now. We spell this with an A in it, like L-O-A-T-H, whereas in the biblical spelling, that A is not there. He says, my soul loathed them, and their soul, the pastors, their soul also abhorred me. Now both loathe and abhor are just fancy ways of saying hate. Those are just old words. They're still not archaic words because we do use them today. They're just not common words. We just don't really use them very often. And we might sound a little snooty if we said, oh, I just absolutely loathe this place. It's just kind of not the way that every man would speak. But that's what it means to loathe or to abhor something. It means that you hate it. So here's what God's saying about these false prophets, these wicked pastors. He's saying, I hated them, and they hated me. Now imagine a pastor who hates the Lord. Isn't that a weird thought? You say, well, why would you be a pastor then? Because their goal, and again, this is a whole sermon in and of itself, the goal of the false prophet. But I just preached about it in the last few weeks when we talked about what the goal of a false prophet could be. Some of them are teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. Some of them just want their ego stroked, and they just want to be on a power trip and have people looking up to them and respecting them and giving them all kinds of accolades. So they might be in it for vainglory. They might be in it for money. Hello, Joel Osteen and these multimillionaire type preachers who teach lies in order to get paid. Others are just pure evil people. And one thing that I wish I could get across to people sometimes is that there are just evil people in this world. And people just don't get that. They have this, well, there's just good in everyone. Everyone deep down is a good person. They're just a troubled, troubled soul. No, they're actually really just bad people who the Bible says they literally live to harm people. I mean, if you read the book of Proverbs, it says they can't even go to bed at night unless they've caused some to fall. The Bible says the adulterous will hunt for the precious life. It is as sport unto some people to do evil and to do mischief. And so there are people out there that are just pure evil people. And it's hard for us to understand that because we're not like that. And we have a tendency to assume that everyone is like us. We tend to judge people after our own heart, but we have to trust the Bible when it warns us about these really bad, evil people. And what did he say in 2 Peter 2? He said, but there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you. It's a guarantee that they're going to be there. And these people hate the Lord. And God says, I hated them and they hated me. I mean, that's the relationship these people have with God. And do you expect me to believe that there aren't pastors like this right now? You think it was just back then in Zechariah? There's nothing new under the sun. Today there are pastors that God hates. God's up in heaven saying, man, my soul loathes that guy. And that guy's one who abhors me. I mean, that's what he's saying here. And it makes perfect sense when you think about it because when you look at 2 Peter chapter 2, it talks about how these false prophets, let's flip over there quickly and look at it because this is a pretty important subject. These false teachers, I mean, these guys are doomed. These guys are not just a little mixed up. They slept through a few important days of Bible college and they missed some important teachings and they, you know, no, these are actually really bad people and it's too late for these guys. They're doomed. He talks about these guys in verse 3 of chapter 2, through covetousness shall they with fainted words make merchandise of you whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not. Jump down if you would to verse number 12, but these, this whole chapter is about these false prophets, but these as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption and they shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime spots they are in blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls and heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed children which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bozor who loved the wages of unrighteousness but was rebuked for his iniquity the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet these are wells without water clouds that are carried with a tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever for when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonness those that were clean escaped from them who live in error now notice that in verse eighteen here it says that they speak great swelling words of vanity what that means is that they're using a lot of fancy theological terms or just a lot of beautiful sounding language as they speak but it's vanity in the sense that they're not really teaching any doctrine you ever just listen to these preachers and they sound like they're using a lot of spiritual words but you don't really walk away learning anything concrete you don't really walk away knowing where this guy stands doctrinally you don't really walk away rooted and grounded in anything you just you hear a lot of swelled up words what does it mean to be swollen but it's a lot of hot air that's just inflating the sermon very little substance but it's just all put it's sort of like when you buy chicken breasts and they literally will inject the chicken breasts with salt water and just like and just make them bigger just filler just because you're paying by the pound that way you're paying for salt water instead of paying for the meat that you're actually trying to get so it's a sermon that's been just puffed up and inflated with all this fancy holy sounding jargon and theological mumbo-jumbo but it's actually very lean on substance but they allure with these great swelling words where people just say oh I just love listening to so-and-so the preacher you know and it's one of these guys who's making tons of money just teaching a positive only message you know one of these prosperity type preachers but look what he says in verse 19 while they promise them liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same as he brought in bondage now if you remember what Jesus taught in John chapter 8 he said to them you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free they said unto him we be Abraham seen and whenever in bondage to any man and he said verily I say unto you whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin so the bondage of corruption is the bondage that sin puts us in in our lives so if we live a life of sin it puts us into bondage so these people are promising them liberty in verse 19 but they themselves the preachers themselves are the servants of corruption why because of whom a man is overcome of the same as he brought in bondage now what does this mean well have you ever heard this movement amongst the new evangelical type preaching the non-denominational type crowd the positive only preaching crowd where they preach about Christian liberty and they say we're free in Christ now obviously there's truth in that and they're mixing the truth with a lie okay because of the fact that obviously God does want us to walk at liberty and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and yes we are free in Christ in a sense and yes we are you know free and so forth but here's the thing about that though they're actually twisting that teaching into a license to sin where they're basically saying well we're free in Christ therefore don't tell me what I'm doing is sinful because I'm free in Christ don't and this is what they'll say don't bring me into bondage and what they mean is like don't tell me to not to fornicate don't tell me not to drink don't tell me not to take drugs don't tell me not to smoke don't tell me not to whatever and they say if you do tell them you're trying to bring me about we're free in Christ and this doctrine is huge amongst the non-denominational and amongst the sort of neo-evangelical crowd the liberal type Baptist the Southern Baptist and so forth North American Baptist Convention people like that I was in that movement for about five years as a teenager the church that we went to went under and we were trying to find another fundamental Baptist Church my parents couldn't really find one that they that they wanted to go to so they ended up kind of throwing in the towel for a while and we all as a family went to these neo-evangelical type liberal Baptist churches for five years and then eventually we found a great soul winning church we got out of there but while we were there man I learned this doctrine well from these people of this Christian liberty quote unquote but what they're missing is the fact that if you're living a sinful life that's not liberty okay and and let me just explain this in a way that makes it really easy to understand of why sin brings bondage in your life I think a great example is smoking cigarettes and you say well the Bible never mentioned smoking yeah but the Bible does mention foolishness and sucking a chemical into your lungs 20 times a day that you know is a poisonous chemical that would probably fall under foolishness spending $7 a day on something that's harming you and carcinogenic and going to bring you to an early grave yeah that's foolishness and is foolishness a sin well the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin just thinking about smoking is a sin seriously and the Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in us and that we are not our own we're bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's now let me ask this if you rent a car do you think they want you smoking in that car if you rent a car why because the car doesn't belong to you belongs to them what about when you rent a hotel room do they want you smoking in there no they want to charge you a $300 fine or something if you smoke in that hotel room cleaning fee why because it doesn't belong to you and God says you are not your own quit smoking in my body quit smoking in my lungs I own you and you're devaluing yourself and you need to be clean so when you think about smoking though does smoking bring liberty to our lives or does smoking bring bondage to our lives I mean do smokers wake up every day and decide I want to smoke today that would be liberty see liberty is when you're making choices when you're free to decide what you want to do right but when you're a smoker you don't have liberty because you must smoke and again and you must waste that $7 you must destroy your health because you're addicted that is bondage you're not choosing anything you say well I want to have freedom in my life I want to have liberty in my life so I'm just going to just you know never set an alarm clock I'm just never I'm not going to have a job because they're going to tell me what to do right okay well now try that lifestyle okay and where are you going to end up homeless now that's not a place that people would choose to be people don't choose yeah I want to be a homeless person I want to live under a bridge I want to be in a cardboard box I want to be dirty I want to have no food you know I want to beg every day but how do they end up there they end up there by not wanting to set guidelines for themselves and set rules for themselves see here's a good way of explaining it freedom is when you make rules for yourself or you choose the rules that you want to live by see if I choose and say you know what I want to live by God's rules that's freedom because I choose to follow God's word I choose to follow the word of God whereas the guy who has no rules for himself he ends up coming into bondage to other people because pretty soon the policeman comes along and says hey you can't sleep on this bench now you know you're you're subject to the cops rules hey you guys got to clear out of here or whatever no vagrancy allowed you know or you're you're or you're beholden to people's charity and you're beholden to whether people are going to give you a handout that day or not and when you're a drinker that brings a bondage of addiction and you have to drink you're compelled to drink or an alcoholic or whether it's gambling you know that can become a compulsion with people and become an addiction and bring bodies and then when you get into gambling and then you go into debt as you inevitably will well then there's a bondage associated with debt where the borrower is servant to the lender you know now you're in debt and now you're owing people money and now you're in bondage to them all sin brings bondage into our lives and the more that we start living by God's laws the more liberty we're going to have in our lives the more freedom because we're going to find ourselves doing what we want to do because God will change our desires also and we will we will desire to do what's right and desire to obey God's word and then we're wake up and waking up in the morning and we're doing what we want to do every day every day we do what we want which are good things which are biblical things and then that that's freedom that's what freedom feels like sin is an illusion that seems like yeah no rules right forget God's laws free and then you go out and start doing that for a while and you're just like whoa I'm gonna go out and sew my wild oats and go fornicate I'm gonna go sleep around the preacher's not gonna tell me to wait till I'm married to do that man marriage is bondage I want to be free whoa yeah then you go out and get a disease yeah oh that's great freedom syphilis hello freedom thy name is gonorrhea freedom thy name is AIDS syphilis herpes and you know what else you know what else then you get some girl pregnant and then you're like oh man what have I done and then it's like oh well yeah but you know this is my child and she's like nope I'm gonna murder it I'm gonna board it because did you know that if you father a child with someone they can abort it and you don't even have to give your consent they can abort it without even asking you you have no rights as the as the father in that situation and then and then your child's being murdered against your will sounds freedom sounds wonderful sounds like liberty or else then or else the baby's born and then they're gonna come at you and say hey pay me child support you fathered this bastard child pay me child support and then you say well I don't want to and then it's gonna be taken directly out of your check and then there's a warrant for your arrest when you're not paying it and then you're in jail and that's not freedom well I'm gonna go out and party and do whatever you go out and start drinking then you drive drunk you get pulled over $10,000 DUI 10 days in jail $15,000 of your money wasted you have to borrow it now you're servant to that now you're in bondage to that your bondage for 10 days I mean the bondage goes on and on with sin that's that's where it takes you look at the people who live this free life free love and free partying lifestyle and you know what they always end up screwing up their life and in bondage and at the end of their life they look at the people who followed God's rules and they wish they had that life they wish that they had that life because they see well that was where the real Liberty was see there's a fake Liberty isn't there there's a there's an illusion of Liberty that says do whatever you want no because then you become a slave to your own lust you become a slave to the devil you become a slave to all kinds of people so the Bible talks about these preachers who won't preach on sin so they allure through the lusts of the flesh they tell people what they want to hear hey it's okay to drink hey it's okay to fornicate as long as you love each other that's all that matters long as you love each other there are churches that teach that hey it's okay we're free in Christ don't be such a fundamentalist don't be so old-fashioned and they promised them Liberty but they themselves are the servants of Satan and they themselves the servants of corruption and they themselves are hated of the Lord and they hate the Lord and they're they're lying deceivers and their whole motive is just money it's through covetousness that they're doing this they just want to teach things which they are not for filthy lucre's sake and they just destroy people's lives in the process they bring everybody into the same bondage of sin that they're in but the preacher who loves you actually preaches against sin and tells you the truth and warns you not just a big swelled up bring a tear to the eye sermon but rather a kick in the pants sermon that says hey you need to get the sin out of your life because it's bringing you into bondage it's ruining your life it's not always what people want to hear but it's what they need to hear so the real pastor warns of the wolf the bad pastor the false prophet he is the wolf number one and number two he when he sees the wolf coming he invites the wolf in and says hey there's no danger here nothing to see here people this this guy yeah free in Christ free in Christ doesn't mean do whatever you want okay go to Romans 6 if you would Romans chapter 6 because the Bible talks about us having liberty talks about how we're not under the law but under grace and people will teach it as hey we're in the age of grace and therefore because this is the quote age of grace that you know the law doesn't apply and what the way that they interpret that is that basically we just kind of do what's right in our own eyes and like I said I was in this movement for many years so I know what they teach and many of you have been in this movement and you know what they teach and here's what they'll say when you try to point out to them that the Bible says that something is a sin whether it be fornication whether it be long hair on a man whether it be drinking whether it be whatever the case may be you know this is what they'll say well you know what maybe the Holy Spirit spoken to you about that and in that case it's a sin for you but the Holy Spirit hasn't spoken to me about that so I'm gonna continue to do it who's ever heard something like that yeah it's out there right hey you know that's great if that if the Holy Spirit's dealing with you about that don't impose that on me because you know we're all free in Christ so basically what they say is as long as they can do some and not feel bad about it it's okay for them only if the Holy Spirit talks to them about it well you know what the Holy Spirit's talking you're just not listening these are the words which the Holy Ghost teaches the Bible says he does not speak of himself the Bible says the Holy Spirit does not speak of himself what does that mean in John 16 when Jesus said the comforter is gonna come the Holy Spirit's gonna come and he will not speak of himself but he will take of mine and show it unto you what does that mean now some people have misread that and they thought it meant talk about himself well he does talk about himself because talks about the Holy Spirit in the Bible therefore he talks about himself that of himself of there is talking about the source of something like where the Bible talks about things that are of the Father or of the world it's talking about the source okay I am of Paul I'm of Apollos they're talking about who won them to Christ who baptized them that was the point okay it's like in Spanish when you when you want to say where you're from and you said like soy de los Estados Unidos right you're saying like I am of the United States that's where I'm from okay so that's what the word of means okay so basically what it's saying what was I saying somebody help me out somebody you ever just go off on a rabbit trail and just what's that yeah oh yeah that's right so thank you you try standing up here it's harder than it looks but he's not gonna speak of himself meaning he's not gonna come up with these teachings that are unique to him you understand what I'm saying he's gonna take of mine Jesus said Jesus is the word made flesh okay so he's saying he's not just gonna speak of himself he's not just gonna show up with a whole new teaching whole new program separate from that which the Father and the Son are doing no no he's gonna take of mine and show it to you so his ministry is to use the sword of the Spirit now that word of there is possession the sword of the Spirit the Spirit's sword like the song goes overcoming daily by the Spirit's sword the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God so the Word of God is the sword that the Spirit uses so he'll take of mine he'll take of Christ's Word and show it unto us he said that the comforter or the Holy Ghost would bring all things into remembrance whatsoever I have spoken unto you yeah so he'll bring God's Word back there remember he'll guide them into all truth okay so this thing of well the Holy Spirit hasn't spoken to me about that well that just means you didn't read the Bible about that because the Bible is what God uses to speak to us as we read the word the Holy Spirit speaks to us through his word so if we don't read the word how's the Holy Ghost gonna talk to us he speaks through the word see every time I read the Bible I'm not just reading a book I'm actually reading the Word of God with the Holy Ghost guiding me that's why we pray before we read you know open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law and the Holy Spirit is our teacher literally he will show us things every time we read the Bible he'll guide us into all truth so this thing of well the Holy Spirit has spoken to me about that no no read the Bible to figure out what's right and wrong don't just do something see how it feels and if it feels good do it say well you know what I I went out and committed this sin and felt fine maybe you're not even saved you know is one option with these people that the Holy Ghost isn't even talking to you at all because you don't even have the Holy Spirit inside you but even if you do have the Holy Spirit inside you you know you might go out and do something that you think is okay and feel fine about it and say well you know what brother I have peace about that okay who's ever heard that one before right well the Bible says no yeah but I have peace about it it's like well I don't care with you peace about it the Bible said it's wrong the Bible said it's adultery the Bible says fornication the Bible says it's stealing you know the Bible said it's it says oh but I have peace about it the Holy Spirit hasn't spoken to me about it see how dangerous this doctrine is because it just becomes a license to sin to just do whatever you want now truly we can do whatever we want and still be saved because we have eternal life and we could never lose our salvation but does that mean we're supposed to just do whatever we want no and if we do whatever we want God's gonna punish us it's sort of like my children can do whatever they want and they'll still be my children but if they do whatever they want him I just get a smile and say it's okay no they're getting a whipping and you're getting a whipping from God if you go out and live this free in Christ quote unquote fraud where you promise them liberty through doing whatever you want and gratifying the flesh however you want with no restraint look at Romans chapter 6 it says in verse 14 for sin shall not have dominion over you for you're not under the law but under grace what then shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace God forbid no ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness he's saying just because you're under grace just because you're saved by grace just because you can do whatever you want does not mean that we should sin said God forbid that we would think we should sin because we're not under the law but under and what sin the transgression of God's law God's rules go back to chapter 5 verse 20 moreover the law entered that the offense might abound but where sin abounded grace did much more abound so in Romans 5 20 it's saying the more that we sin the more grace there is to cover our sins like the song and hymnal grace that is greater than all our sin God's grace is sufficient and the more we sin where sin abounds grace did much more abound but look at verse 1 of chapter 6 what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid so what it's saying here is that yes if we continue to sin graceful bound but should we do that God forbid that we would do that why because if we love Christ will keep his commandments and because we know that whom the Lord loveth he chased it that scourges every son whom he receiveth so false teachers and false prophets you will often recognize their teachings by the licentiousness where everything's okay I mean I just saw in the news this thing that just boggled my mind where a pastor and I believe it was Greenville South Carolina which you would expect to be a really conservative straight laced part of the country I have family from out there so I'm kind of familiar with that area and it's the area of Bob Jones University and and places like that and this gigantic Southern Baptist Church in Greenville South Carolina that's been around for like a hundred and some years just came out and they said we're now gonna start performing sodomite weddings and we're gonna start ordaining sodomites into the mission it's a Baptist Church so they're falling one after the other the Catholics the Methodists the Episcopalians the Presbyterian where they're saying come on in homos come on in sodomites now the Southern Baptist Church in Greenville South Carolina the pastor I saw the video on YouTube of the pastor saying hey we don't want to discriminate against you there everybody's on their different path you know would fall in Christ and we're not gonna discern between the the sodomite and the he didn't use the word sodomite he said that they were happy people he said these people that are happy right because they said they're gay that's what gay gay means happy you know what I mean it's just the they pervert the word of God the Bible used the word gay to mean cheerful so he's saying all these cheerful people they're not cheerful they're disease-filled filthy sodomites that's what the Bible calls them sodomite here's what the Bible does just use Bible words filthy filthy so he says oh we don't want to discriminate or discern between these because of the fact that you know we're all on a different path and don't judge whatever this guy is the exact guy of second Peter to just promising Liberty just a total servant of corruption wicked false teacher just this permissive anything goes I mean churches where people are just living together and they're not married man and woman just live together not married and everybody acts like it's normal not in this church we've thrown out of the church first Corinthians chapter 5 says to cast you out that's your situation but let's go back to Zechariah chapter 10 and let's read a little more about this he said my anger was kindled against the shepherds which is the pastors and I punished the goats for the Lord of hosts have visited the flock of the house of Judah and have made them as his goodly horse in the battle in chapter 11 verse 8 he said three shepherds also I cut off in one month man I wish he'd cut off some shepherds in America today we need at least three this month to be cut off I got a list for God if you want you know if we take take it to the Lord in prayer you know I got a little I got a prayer list of some shepherds I'd like to see cut off this month I got three for the next month after that but he said my soul loathe them and their soul also abhorred me and of course the Bible talks about reprobates who changed the truth of God into a lie that they're haters of God Romans chapter 1 he said in chapter 10 verse 4 out of him came forth the corner out of him the nail out of him the battle bow out of him every oppressor together and they shall be as mighty men which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle and they shall fight because the Lord is with them and the riders on horses shall be confounded so what's he talking about he's talking about how Judah had been led by some really bad pastors that he was angry at but now that's all gonna change he's given them some righteous preachers he's given them Zechariah he's given him Haggai he's given them some great leaders Joshua the son of Jazadek he's given them Zerubbabel son of David son of Shealtiel and these guys are gonna lead them and they're gonna be mighty again and God's gonna bless them remember the context of the book of Zechariah is that this is spoken to the people that are just coming back from the Babylonian 70 year captivity and God had turned away from them but now he's gonna bless them he says in verse 6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and I will save the house of Joseph which represents some of the northern kingdom there with Ephraim and Manasseh he says and I will bring them again to place them for I have mercy upon them and they shall be as though I had not cast them off for I am the Lord their God and we'll hear them now look at the end of verse 6 is it not saying that he did cast them off he did cast them off but he's saying it will be as though I had not cast them off so he's saying look I'm gonna bring him back I'm gonna bless them now that they've turned unto me and it will be as if I had not cast them off what's God saying he's saying he's gonna forgive and forget isn't that the great thing about God when we sin and then when we get right with God he actually will forgive and forget and that's how we should be too with our fellow man and with our fellow church member and with our family members when they do wrong and they repent we should be able to let them live it down right we ought to be forgiving people and understand that when people sin and get right we need to move on and not keep hanging it over the head one of the things I hate the most about the legal system in our country in the United States is this thing of carrying around a criminal record it's so unjust and it's so unbiblical to not let someone live it down somebody's a young person and they steal something or or have drugs or whatever and they get that felony on their record and they have to carry that thing around with them for the rest of their life it makes no sense if they've already done the time if they've already been punished let's move on oh well but then what if people you know hire them well how else are they gonna exist how do you feed yourself without being hired you know then they make it impossible for these people to get a job and then they go back to crime because it's like they can't get a job because of this criminal record and then they go down to start their own business and they can't get a contractor's license because all you got this felony denied it's very unjust very unbiblical criminal record well but what about the dangerous pedophiles they're supposed to be dead so you wouldn't need a criminal record for them the crime talking about people that are thieves or the drugs drug dealers drug users you know what it's wrong it's sin but if they paid the time if they did the time it's over you know and but you know when my children do wrong and they get a spanking I don't just bring it up the next day oh you were so bad yesterday let it go move on and I love what God says here you know what it'll be as though I'd not cast them off you know what it's it's just as if you guys hadn't ever done wrong why cuz you're doing right now I'm let's put it behind us God's a God of the second chance it says in verse number six there at the end it's they shall be as though I had not cast them off for I'm the Lord their God and we'll hear them and they have ephraim shall be like a mighty man and their heart shall rejoice as through wine yea their children shall see it and be glad their heart shall rejoice in the Lord you know there's some people who rejoice and get excited about wine and then there's some people that get excited about the Lord and the things of God you know it's sort of like it says in Song of Solomon the very beginning of Song of Solomon let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine you know so the husband wife relationship is better than drinking right and also our relationship with the Lord is better than drinking you know I can rejoice through I can rejoice in the Lord as other people rejoice through wine you know I mean I mean what do you think is more exciting drinking wine or having a walk with the God of the universe reading the Word of God preaching well I you know I'll choose booze well then you're an idiot and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise I choose the Lord you know I choose to be sober and to be with my spouse you know that's better to me than the the drunkenness that the world offers through alcohol verse 8 I will hiss for them and gather them for I have redeemed them and they shall increase as they have increased and I will sow them among the people and they shall remember me in far countries and they shall live with their children and turn again I'll bring them again also out of the land of Egypt and gather them out of Assyria and I'll bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon and place shall not be found for them he said I'm gonna bring them so many they'll fill up that whole land there won't even be room for them all and he shall pass through the sea with affliction and shall smite the waves in the sea and all the deeps of the river shall dry up and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down and the scepter of Egypt will depart away and I will strengthen them in the Lord and they shall walk up and down in his name saith the Lord now this is a really positive passage about the Israelites about the children of Joseph and the children of Judah I'm gonna strengthen them I'm gonna sow them amongst all people they're gonna remember my name they're gonna be mighty they're gonna be increased they're gonna be saved they're gonna be redeemed they are going to be gathered again in the land the promised land and they're gonna be filling up the place once again now remember this is before that happened and I'm not talking about 1947 48 I'm talking this is before it happened like this is hundreds and hundreds of years before the time of Christ this is the book of Zechariah this is when they're first coming back from Babylon and here's what God's telling them you know what I am going to gather there's only a few people here now but we're more people are gonna come from all lands and even the people that are in other lands they're gonna be a blessing in those lands where they're gonna actually I'm gonna sow them as seeds in those lands you know where they can actually be a witness for my word and preach my word and preach my name and be redeemed to be saved in those lands and God says I'm gonna bless them they're gonna be strong it's gonna be great but what's so funny is when people will try to quote verses like this about the modern nation of Israel yeah look at it's all prophesied right here he's gonna bring him out of all these lands and they're gonna be there yeah it already happened already happened before Jesus that's why when Jesus came on the seed or they dwell in the land or what when Jesus was on the scene they're living in the land do they have their temple yeah they have Jerusalem yeah okay are they worshiping the Lord are they worshiping idols worshiping the Lord okay but then of course the Pharisees and the Sadducees came in and screwed everything up with their false teaching but you can't just take scripture out of context and just time warp this into the 20th century because we have to ask ourselves a question does this scripture fit the current state of Israel let's ask a few questions are they saved are they redeemed are they remembering the name because what's the name Jesus well they have a different name that no no there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved it's not optional you can be saved under Jesus or under God's other names of you know because God has many names does he not he's God Almighty he's Jehovah right he has all kinds of it but wait a minute what's the name that we must be saved under Jesus confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart so look if they're not saved if they're not redeemed if they're not remembering the name then this scripture is talking about something else like something that happened hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth and it was already fulfilled done I mean you could just stamp this one as fulfilled stamp it as done move on to the next one it's important to understand that we're reading the book of Zechariah let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer tonight thank you Lord for this great chapter and Lord help us to be aware of these these pastors Lord these shepherds with which your anger is kindled that lead your people astray that lead them into bondage Lord these people were coming out of a great Babylonian captivity Babylonian bondage for 70 years why because the pastors lied to them and promised them liberty led them straight into bondage through sinful licentiousness Lord help us not to follow the bad pastors of our day Lord help us to rather seek out preaching that actually rebukes sin and that actually tells us the truth about what your word teaches not just telling people that anything goes and in Jesus name we pray these things amen