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New Life Kingdom Builders Ministries is a place where people can come and be made whole. We believe in people, marriages and families receiving restoration, healing and deliverance through the power of God. We believe Christians should go out in the power of the Holy Ghost and the authority given by Jesus to be the kingdom here on earth. We are a network of ministries that go out and do the Father’s will by doing what Jesus did in Matthew 4:23 by preaching, teaching and healing all manner of sickness and diseases among the people. NLKBM is a place where people can learn to fulfill the plans and purposes God has for them through the Word of God and execute that plan in the places they have been called to. It is a place that is not a “church” but a body of believers who have been called to be the church.
Services are currently being held at 2602 Whitehouse Rd, S. Chesterfield, VA 23834
Hours:
Saturday @ 6:30PM (Weekend Service)
Wednesday @ 7:00PM (Prayer & Bible Study)
Marshall is gonna come up here and speak because she she forgot one of her points last week. So she's gonna name it. She she ain't gonna preach sermon. But she's gonna go over the points again and then she's gonna give a fair point. Alright.
Pastor:You come on. Yeah. I'm gonna
Marshall:be preaching so he doesn't have to worry about that. So, I went over the signs of a true leader and it was five and the first one was being responsible and the second obedient to God. Courageous was the third and the fourth was truthful and the fifth that I didn't mention was faithful, dependable. Jesus is faithful and that's all I wanted to add. Thank you.
Pastor:Amen. Well, praise god. Hallelujah. So, you know what? I think this is a word that we could probably relate to but you know, have you ever been given an assignment from god or a task, mission however you want to
Pastor:say it and then you started off and you start out on fire you start out hungry and then all of a sudden some obstacles come and hit right and then we start to slow down right we wonder what's going on or we may think, man, I missed it. I missed it. Oh god, I'm in a wrong area. I missed you. What what what's going on?
Pastor:Right? But, you know, that's in
Pastor:the Bible where many people have thought like that. Right? So, we we're gonna read about you could turn to Zechariah. Alright? The book right before Malachi because I know many of
Pastor:us don't read the book of Zechariah a lot but right before Malachi. So turn turn to Matthew and then turn two books to the left.
Pastor:Alright. We're gonna start at chapter four.
Pastor:So I don't know how many of you heard of Zerubbabel. Alright. So we're probably familiar with it but we
Pastor:may not all know his story. But he was somebody that faced what I mentioned and described earlier.
Pastor:Alright. We there? Amen. Amen. So we'll begin.
Pastor:I'll read the whole chapter. I believe it's 14 verses. Correct? Alright. Alright.
Pastor:So, Zechariah. Zechariah chapter four. Alright. Beginning at verse one and as always, I'll be reading from the New King James version. Now, the angel who talked with me came back and waken me as answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me saying, what are these, my lord?
Pastor:Then, the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, do you not know what these are? And I said, no, my lord. So, let's stop right there. We'll continue reading in a minute. So, here you have Zechariah who was actually a priest.
Pastor:So, the angel asked him to describe what he's saying and then he asked him, well, Zechariah says, what is this? Now, here you have a priest that don't know what he's looking at, right? So, remember, when I read that, sometimes we can beat ourselves when we don't understand certain things we may read in the scripture and I'm here to say, that's okay, right? Because none of us in this world are gonna gonna understand everything in the Bible, right? But when we don't understand something, what we need to do is pray and wait.
Pastor:Amen. And then when we don't get it right away, we pray and we continue to wait, right? And then as we pray, god will lead us. He will reveal it to us. He may speak to us.
Pastor:The the interpretation of it or he may lead us in the scriptures, the interpretation of it or he may lead us to someone or somewhere that may be speaking on that particular scripture or passage, but we have to be patient. Alright, let's continue on. Verse six, so he answered and said to me, this is the word of the lord to Zerubabel. Not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the lord of hosts and I'll read that again. Not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the lord of hosts.
Pastor:Verse seven, who are you, oh great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain and he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it. Moreover, the word of the lord came to me the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple. His hands shall also finish it. Then, you will know that the lord of hosts has sent me to you.
Pastor:For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Cerobo. They are the eyes of the lord which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth. Verse 11, then I answered and said to him, what are these two olive trees? At the right of the land stand and at its left.
Pastor:And I further answered and said to him, what are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains? Then, he answered me and said, do you not know what these are? And I said, no, my lord. Verse 14. So, he said, these are the two anointed ones who stand beside the lord of the whole earth.
Pastor:Amen. Amen. So, here we have Zechariah. So, what do we know about Zechariah? So, Zechariah was a priest and obviously also a prophet, right?
Pastor:He was a contemporary of Haggai. So, for those that don't know, Zechariah prophesied two months right after Haggai Haggai gave his first prophecy. So, Zechariah was actually born in Babylon. As we know, Jeremiah prophesied how Israel's gonna go into captivity and spend seventy years in the captivity of Babylon and he was telling the Israelites at that time saying, hey, go and god, this is the message from the word of the lord. Nebuchadnezzar's gonna come.
Pastor:Babylon's gonna come. It's going to defeat Israel. It's going to take Israel to captivity and you are to go and not resist and god will take care of you and god take care of them so much when it was time for them to leave Babylon. Many of them stayed. Because they already houses, they had property, they had spouses, and they were good and children, right?
Pastor:So, some of them did not want to go, right? But when it came time for them to leave, once Babylon got got defeated by the middle now, god spoke to a king by the name of Cyrus and god spoke to Cyrus who was a middle Persian and god said, hey, go me some houses in Jerusalem. Right? Now, this is a Gentile king that god's speaking to. So, he releases, they go in waves as we read in Nehemiah and Ezra, right?
Pastor:They go in waves and here's Zechariah going in the first wave and then now, he's god is speaking to Zechariah for to to give him a message to Zerubbabel and like I said, two months prior to that, Haggai was given a message as well. So, Haggai came with a message of for them to repent because what happened is, you think about it. Here they are. There was, in the first way, there's about 50 people that came out of the first wave, right? So, as they got to Israel, just imagine, you have people that were alive at the first temple when it was first built that Solomon built and Solomon made it magnificent.
Pastor:Now, here you have the same people who are coming to the same city and then those who are younger, who were not alive at that time like Zechariah, they heard all sorts of stories from the elders. So, now, they get to Jerusalem and they're all excited how they're gonna rebuild the temple and guess what? They see it's a dump. Because Solomon, he did what? He used the greatest materials, gold, ivory.
Pastor:Solomon had the smartest and most talented people to be able to come and help build the temple. Matter of fact, Solomon didn't just use the Israelites to build the temple. Solomon got outside help. He asked for people who knew how to shape and was able to produce ivory, right? He also used, believe it or not, illegal immigrants that was there at the time, right?
Pastor:Solomon used all these people and now they had, here they are. Turn to Haggai. There's only two chapters. There's one book over to the left. So, go to Zechariah chapter one then go to Haggai chapter two.
Pastor:Alright, we there? Amen. Alright, beginning at verse one. In the seventh month, on the twenty first of the month, the word of the lord came by Haggai, the prophet saying, speak now to Zerubel, the son of Shetel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozazak, the high priest, to the remnant of the people saying, who is left among you who saw this temple in his form of glory and how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing so?
Pastor:Like I just mentioned, as I, well, paraphrase that who you have some elderly people there who saw the temple and his magnificent glory. So, they can't picture how they're gonna rebuild this temple that Solomon built. Let's keep going. Verse four, yet now be strong Zerubo. So, Zerubo was actually governor at this time.
Pastor:So, in Haggai and Zechariah, it deals with two main people as well as the Israel as a whole. Zerobo was a governor at that time.
Pastor:So, let me backtrack. I got ahead of myself. So,
Pastor:we know that there was kings in Israel that was in over Israel prior to them going into the captivity. So, now, Israel released and guess what? There's no kingly line at that. Well, the guy king, descendants of the king but they were not going to be named king because they were still under the rule of the Meadow Persians. Zerubo would have fell under that to be a king but because they were not, they were submitted and surrendered unto Meso Persians, Zerubo was now known as the governor.
Pastor:So, he was the civic leader. Then, you had a religious leader which was Joshua, not Moses and Joshua because that that Joshua was dead. Long time ago, right? So, now, you have Joshua who is the high priest. Right?
Pastor:So, let's keep going. I'll start at verse four again. Yet now be strong, Zerubel, says the lord, and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozazak, the high priest and be strong all you people of the land, says the lord and work for I am with you, says the lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenated with you when you came out of Egypt. So, my spirit remains among you.
Pastor:Do not fear. Verse six, for thus says the lord of hosts. Once more, it is a little while. I will shake heaven and earth, the sea, and dry land and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the lord of hosts. So, I will fill this temple with the glory, says the lord of hosts.
Pastor:So, they're not saying that. So, now, Haggai, god is speaking through Haggai to motivate them. Because they can't understand how because we have to understand. Like I mentioned, Solomon had the best material. They don't have the best materials.
Pastor:They don't have the financial resources that Solomon have. They don't even have the talent. Matter of fact, not only did they have to rebuild the temple but they also had to build their houses. Verse eight, the silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the lord of hosts and in this place, I will give peace.
Pastor:Say, says the lord of hosts. So, how could the glory be greater in the latter temple that they were gonna rebuild compared to the first one and they're saying in their mind, the splendor of Solomon's temple because it was Zerubo's temple that Jesus went into. See, sometimes we look at buildings and we get so fixated on the buildings and we treat building. Nothing wrong with the church cross Street but like them, big old property. I've been inside there before.
Pastor:Not for a good reason but for a funeral. But you know, when we look at it on the surface, it's magnificent. And see, not just using that as example. But, you know, sometimes we look at these big fancy churches and we're like, man, god is with them. But then, we all been saved long enough.
Pastor:I've been quite a few churches and usually, usually, it's the small storefront shack churches that usually have the presence of god in there, right? Because it doesn't matter how many projector screens a church may have. Doesn't matter how many instruments a church may have but if Jesus Christ does not enter into that temple, that building, it's all for nothing. So, unless the lord builds a house, it's in vain. Yes.
Pastor:Alright. Let's go back to Zechariah. So, he says this in verse six, this is the word of the lord to Zerubo, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the lord of hosts. So, what is might? Hold on.
Pastor:Imma give you the exact definition. So, might focuses on collective strength. So, might is natural resources. Might is it actually means army. It means financial resources.
Pastor:It means strength, material things. That's might. Now power comes from an individual standpoint. Right? So, power can be a rich person and what financial or materialistic resources they can bring to the table.
Pastor:So, they got discouraged because what happens is when they came to Jerusalem went to rebuild the temple, rebuild the city, they faced opposition. And we read that in Ezra and Nehemiah because when you read Nehemiah, you read Ezra, Haggai, and Zechariah, they all go together. And see, Zechariah is more of a prophetic book because it deals with prophecy during that time but it also foretells how Jesus is gonna come. And also how he's gonna come riding in on a donkey and then also, it talks about Jesus' second coming and how he's gonna establish the millennial kingdom. Actually, out of all the Old Testament books, Zechariah talks about the end times more than all the Old Testament books to include Daniel.
Pastor:So, here they are. The people come to the city and they see all this and now, they face, they start to become discouraged because enemies coming against them, right? And not only do they become discouraged because their enemies but they also slow down because they become indifferent. Well, why are they becoming different? Because remember I said they had to build their houses.
Pastor:So, they spend all day working on their houses and then now, it's time for them to go work on the temple. When you do all that, by the time you get to the temple, you're tired. How do we look when we come in here on Wednesdays? We don't work all day. I don't see some of our faces.
Pastor:I feel it. Right? We become tired. And in Haggai in chapter one, god is rebuking them for that. He's saying, you are focused more so on your things than my house.
Pastor:Marie just read it. Matthew six thirty three, seek you first the kingdom of god and all these things will be added onto you but see, they were seeking those things first and then, god's things second and see, in chapter one of Haggai, it talks about how they were bringing in money but putting in their bags and they were just stripping through the bags. Why? Because it wasn't supposed to be about them, right? Supposed to be about building the temple.
Pastor:Why? And see, see, so, They thought so here, they started and they laid the foundation. Another governor prior to Zeruba laid the foundation. But what happened? The people sat.
Pastor:Don't you know sat for sixteen years? Not working on the temple? Because they became discouraged. And the opposition of the enemy. See, but that's what's supposed to happen.
Pastor:When god calls us to do some, we are going to face opposition. Opposition. As a matter of fact, we all heard the term sweatless victory, right? I've said it before. Sweatless victory.
Pastor:See, we're going to face opposition. Why? Satan is the ruler of this world. You think he's going to give us free passage to do the things for god's kingdom without opposition? No, no.
Pastor:There's going be a whole demonic kingdom coming against us. And god is saying, look, it's not about your might nor about your power. It's about my spirit and see in order for us to recognize the spirit, we have to stay filled with the oil. Amen. See, the temple and the tabernacle at that time was supposed to have a lamp.
Pastor:It was a manure and not what they should, not what we see today in Hanukkah because they added they added eight but that time, it was seven and that was supposed stay lit. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The priest were responsible for making sure oil stayed in the lamp to keep it filled, to keep it and it was had to be pure oil. It couldn't be an oil that was So, they had to make the oil and that oil, that light was represented that Israel was supposed to be the light of the world and now, we have the holy spirit in us as a representative that we as the church supposed to be the light of the world. Amen.
Pastor:And see, sometimes we can get caught up in going by our might and by our power in doing things and we can forget and see what we do with this. We go by might, we go by power, and then we wanna invoke god in the end and say, oh, look what god did. I've been in a part of enough strategy meetings in churches. Don't you know where and I'm not against meetings or anything like that. There's nothing wrong with that but we spend more time meeting about the event or outreach that we're doing than we do praying.
Pastor:That's might. All the Thanksgiving giveaways. Come on everybody. Use your resources. Let's say, how about we go by the spirit?
Pastor:Right? There was somebody. This person used to come here, right? Long time ago, he used to come here and they would always say to me, you know what? I feel god's calling me to do this.
Pastor:I wanna do this and but I need this amount of money, this amount of money, this amount of money because I could buy this. I could do that and then I could gather up all these people here and do this and do that. I'm like, that's not god because that's what you're trying to do with your spirit, your your might, and your own power because if you knew that and see what happens is not that he couldn't get the financial resources to do it but then he will want to vote god at the end of it but no, you strategize it because you say, the only way you can do that is by financial resources but that's not god's spirit. See, we just read in Haggai. He said, what?
Pastor:The silver is mine. Meaning, god's. The gold is his. All the resources are his but it's by his spirit that we have to do these things. Amen.
Pastor:We can't get caught up in the ideas of what we want and neglect god's spirit. See, we have to seek god and be led by his spirit to the location, to the building that he wants for us. Amen. See, yes, we will face opposition such as people not getting in contact with us. And then we know for those some of us who couple of us say, we're in the house, we know that sometimes we had almost 30 people in the house.
Pastor:Right? So, we're thinking, oh, it's rolling. It's rolling. It's good. It's good.
Pastor:And then we move out. Look at us now. So, there will be opposition. Many of us have invited people. I know my wife have invited people and people say, oh, I'm coming.
Pastor:And then they don't show up. It's not by might. Not by power. Right? Yeah.
Pastor:We still invite. And then when we invite, we pray. And then we invite, and we still pray. See, many of us, we invite, but we're not praying. But, no, we have to pray.
Pastor:And we have to pray some more. And we have to pray some more. Because it's not about our efforts. That's right. Right?
Pastor:But it's about what god wants to do and see when we start start trying to do things out of effort, that's when we grow weary because it's by our might and by our power. No matter how strong, how charismatic we are in our natural abilities, we will eventually grow tired and weary. Yes. I don't care how great an athlete is. Take the greatest Olympic athlete ever.
Pastor:They still gonna get tired. Amen. Amen. Right? But it's only by god's spirit that we can push forward and move and we forget that.
Pastor:So verse seven of Zechariah four, who are you, oh great mountain, before Zerubo? You shall become a plain, and he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it. In other words, he had that mountain. Basically, how am I gonna start this? I don't understand.
Pastor:I don't have what he have. What's on in there? But you have something greater. You have the spirit. Right?
Pastor:And then this is why the lord will come and give prophetic words, words of knowledge to continue to to to motivate us, to give us dreams, to give us visions, right? Moreover, the word of the lord came to me saying, verse nine, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of his temple. His hands shall also finish it. Then, you will know that the lord of hosts has sent me to you. So, he laid the foundation.
Pastor:So, there's one or two ways that most theologians look at this saying that hands will be the one to finish it but I like my new King James version. His is actually capitalized. Meaning, so rule will lay the laid the foundation but his hand, meaning, god's hands will finish it. See, even when we read it and all, what was it? Acts, when Peter and John was arrested, I forgot who was.
Pastor:Maybe it was Caiaphas. I can't remember but he said this, he said, look, if this is a god, we can't stop it. We can't stop it. But see, the enemy was using them to discourage Peter and John and the rest of the early church but they didn't do. They didn't get discouraged.
Pastor:Why? Even if they got beat, jailed, what happened? They came together and they prayed. They prayed and they got a what? Refilling.
Pastor:See, the holy spirit will come and work in three ways in there. Right? He is with us. Right? So, that doesn't mean just for believers but he's also with the unbelievers because god said, his spirit will not always strive with man.
Pastor:So, he's with us tapping us on our shoulder. Listen to me. Even when somebody's was leading us to the lord, he's talking at our hearts. He's with us. Now, as we become born again, he comes in us.
Pastor:But here's what many in the church fall short. See, they think when he comes in us, that's it. No. No. No.
Pastor:He comes upon us. And see that can also fall to the unbeliever. Right? Because what do you say in acts? Pay, pray, and wait until you endured until the holy spirit comes upon you, and then he should give you power.
Pastor:But we forget that. We focus in on the second one that he's in us. But see, in order to maintain that oil, we have to make sure he comes upon us. See, just like even in the Old Testament, he came upon them. See, it's by his spirit that he can lead us to greener pastures.
Pastor:It's by his spirit that we can be successful in whatever task he's called us to do. Regardless of whatever opposition may come upon upon us. See, many people think it was Moses that parted the Red Sea. Meaning, he just looked up in. No, it was god's spirit.
Pastor:Amen. That part of the Red Sea. It was god's holy spirit that raised Jesus, resurrected Jesus from the dead. It was the holy spirit that gave blind Bartimaeus his eye sight. It was the holy spirit that raised Jairus' daughter from the dead.
Pastor:It was the holy spirit that caused Elijah to outrun the chariots, to win the battle at Mount Carmel against all false prophets. It was the holy spirit. And see, when we are not filled with the oil, we go by might and we go by power. And understand something. When I talked about how Christians we do certain things and we invoke god on it.
Pastor:Understand, god has given us common sense. I was supposed to talk about this a few weeks ago but I I I guess it wasn't man at that time but it was funny because I listened to one of my pastors in Connecticut, pastor Carmen at Company Life Ministry. I watched it and then she spoke about it. That that that following morning on Sunday. You know, we as Christians, we forget.
Pastor:God has given us common sense. Holy spirit don't need to talk to us about everything. You don't need the holy spirit to tell you not to cross the street in front of a fast moving car. I hope not. Exactly.
Pastor:You don't need the holy spirit to tell you. I'll use the example she gave. Oh, god's telling me to eat that chocolate cake. No. He's not telling you to eat that chocolate cake, folks.
Pastor:You eat it or you don't eat it. God forbid you got diabetes. You better not eat it. Oh, the lord's gonna heal me. No, he's not.
Pastor:No. That's just ignorance. But that's what Christians do. They don't have common sense and then we get these hyper spiritual people and they're ignorant of the word. And this is why I said when we go back and we study and we don't understand some, we wait and we be patient and we pray and you may not give it to us that day but we continue to pray.
Pastor:Don't sit up here and say, well, you know what? The holy spirit told me, holy spirit told me, then, you know what? You know what I find amazing? The silent years. You know, you have four hundred silent years from Malachi to John the Baptist.
Pastor:Well, there was no revelatory word. Holy Spirit was not speaking. So, it's funny how the Holy Spirit's always speaking to everybody. What would they had done at that time? You know what they had to go off of?
Pastor:What was written in the scriptures? Because god gave them enough prophetic word. Amen. In Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, all that was and all that was leading up to the Messiah coming and they were supposed to study but what happened was they quit studying and this is why they ended up looking for a political messiah to come instead of the way Jesus come and that's why a lot of them missed it. Because they grew impatient.
Pastor:With not receiving the word of
Pastor:the lord. Although the word of the lord came to them. For who has this verse for who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see the plum in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the lord which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.
Pastor:Alright? See, sometimes we can despise the small beginnings. Right? Like us. We can we can despise the small beginnings.
Pastor:Right? But everybody has to start somewhere, whether it's a business, whether it's a ministry, whether it's a church, has to start somewhere. Right? So, they were despising the small beginnings. So, god was sending his word to them for them to be encouraged.
Pastor:So, I'll get to the seven here in a minute. The plumb line. So, we know in Amos, the plumb line was god's standard but the plumb line here in Zechariah verse 10 is meaning, it's the work of the lord, right? They were to do the work and they were not to deviate from the work that god was calling them to do. They were not to go to become indifferent.
Pastor:Just like we cannot become indifferent. We have to fight against it and we have to stay filled with the oil which is god's holy spirit. So for these seven rejoice to see the plum line. So what are these seven? These seven is representative of the holy spirit.
Pastor:Wait a minute. I thought the holy spirit was one. Yeah. The holy spirit is one. But let me ask you this.
Pastor:How many attributes does Jesus have? Two. Divine nature and human nature. What about god? Three, god the father, god the son, and god the holy spirit.
Pastor:And what about the holy spirit? Tell her Isaiah chapter 11. You gotta say amen. Chapter 11. Amen.
Pastor:Yep. Isaiah chapter 11.
Pastor:Alright. We there? I don't have pages turning so.
Pastor:Alright. Begin at verse one. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 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 the fear of the lord.
Pastor:So I don't need to go no further. The spirit of the lord is one. The spirit of wisdom is two. Understanding is three. Counsel is four.
Pastor:Might is five. Knowledge is six, and the fear of the lord is seven. See, the holy spirit was going to a full. The holy spirit was going to lead them to stay within god's standard of what he was calling them to do. See, no matter what we do, we have to maintain god's standard and the holy spirit will lead us and guide us.
Pastor:Why? We as long as we stay filled with the oil. And when we start to run dry and start to run weary, we gotta go back to the well and get filled again. Amen. Then at verse 11, Zechariah four.
Pastor:Then I answered and said to him, what are these two olive trees at the right of the lampstand at it and at its left? And and I further answered and said to him, what are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains? Then he answered me and said, do you not know what these are? And I said, no, my lord. So, he said, these are the two anointed ones who stand beside the lord of the whole earth.
Pastor:Now, this is also makes reference to Revelation chapter 11. Right? But let's deal with what what what's right here. Right? So, the two anointed ones means sons of oil.
Pastor:Right? So, in other word, the two olive branches were represented by Zerubbabel here and Joshua, the high priest. In other words, as the anointing flows through them and flows through the upon the people to complete the ministry and a task that god was requiring of them to do. Right. So, as long as the leaders were not full, the people could not be full.
Pastor:Amen. See, opposition came against all of them and then the leaders started to get discouraged. And see, the leaders get discouraged and that means that people are gonna get discouraged. Yes. So, god had to send this word to encourage the Zebul and say, listen, you are going to complete this work and not just by your strength, not by your might, but by my spirit.
Pastor:Right? It's not about me. It's not about Marshall, Phil, Byron, John. None of us. It's about god's spirit.
Pastor:Amen. Praise god. It's not by might not by. So, we can have all these fancy ideas. None of that matters.
Pastor:Yeah. Right? So,
Pastor:we we used to have disagreements when we first started the ministry where she wanted Marsha wanted me
Pastor:to pass out flies and I said, well, god didn't want me to pass out flies. He said, no. Right? I didn't know why. I just said, look, I can only tell you what he told me.
Pastor:Right? Not that I'm opposed to it but but it makes sense now. Why? Because it starts to become might, power. That's not god's spirit.
Pastor:I don't recall Jesus passing out flyers. Right? Because what we've done today is we have commercialized churches and we follow the ways of the world and it's become might and power. So, now we see so and so church successful and we thinking, oh god did that. What is the reason how they gotta build up so fast?
Pastor:Because guess what? If you're doing things god's way, you're gonna face opposition. See, if if there's no opposition, like I said earlier, might not be god. Because see, the enemy can't stop us but what the enemy can do is cause discouragement and if he causes discouragement, we cause ourselves to stop just like Israel did here in Zechariah. That's how he stops us.
Pastor:But see, when we recognize, hey, it's not by might nor by power but by my spirit, meaning god's spirit. Amen. Amen. We keep pressing forward regardless of the opposition we face. Right?
Pastor:We don't grow indifferent like Israel did here. No. We keep moving forward. Why? Because we are filled and then when we start to get weary, now we gotta go to the well and we gotta see, there was a constant supply of light in the tabernacle that time.
Pastor:There should be a constant supply of light in us because we are the light of the world. Jesus shines to us. He's he said he was the light of the world but he shines to us. That we become the light. And then we don't put a cover over our light.
Pastor:Our light should is in what happens to many Christians, right? The light doesn't go fully out but it begins to flicker. Have you ever operated a gas guild with grill and the propane starts to die, starts to flicker, turns blue, and then it goes out. That's how Christians operate now. Right?
Pastor:We're not staying filled. Right? But we have to stay filled with the oil. That's how we maintain. That's how we press forward.
Pastor:That's how we get to where god is calling us to and that's how we become what god is calling us to be. Amen?
Pastor:Amen. Let's bow our heads.