ZECHARIAH THRU MALACHI

This has been a busy week and is going to be a busier weekend.  Last night I was able to see four people come to Christ.  (I saw three and my partner prayed with one.)  It was a blessing to see how open the people were.  After arriving home, I went outside about 10:30pm and saw four shooting stars.  They were fast, but I saw them.  In some places I'm told you could see hundreds.  This evening, we have our Family Life Conference, with Dr. Mike Ray & wife, then we have Dr. David Gibbs with us all day Sunday, and then we have Chris Teft with us Monday and Tuesday.  Tuesday morning, my wife and I fly out for a vacation that will last till we arrive back home September 1st.  I will not blog any past this Sunday, so keep that in mind till I'm back in Oregon.  1) ZECHARIAH- Zechariah is a prophet who was the grandson of the prophet, Iddo.  Spiritual people can run in the same family because of their godly influences.  Your spiritual parents do not make you spiritual, but they should create in you a desire to walk with God yourself so that you become spiritual.  I thank God for my father and mother, Jim & Betty, who walked with God and created a deep desire in me to know God and to serve Him.  Thanks Mom! 2) LET'S ALL MAKE A TURN!  That is what God is saying in Zech. 1:3.  He says that IF the nation will "turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of host, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of host."  In the NT, the Bible says:  "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you."  Interesting.... As a sinner, God draws us to Himself and we respond in Salvation; but as a Christian, God wants us to make the first move!!  Are you ready to make a turn today??  Why don't we all just say in our hearts cry to God... I want to "turn" unto you will all my being today.  THEN... we will see God working in our lives today!! 3) BY MY SPIRIT.  Zech. 4:6 is a very moving verse to me.  It tells me that God's work is "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."  This particularly is talking about building the temple.  This task was started by Zerubbabel, and if you read the book of Ezra, it tells all about this.  The long and short of it is:  The temple was rebuilt, but not because of the people's might or power, (in fact, everything and everyone was against them), but God's Spirit kept them working when everything said to QUIT!!  Anything built for God will face the same opposition, whether it be a Church, a Marriage, a Home, a Business; "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit"!!  And when it's all done, the only thing to say is found in the very next verse:  "Grace, grace"!!  It's ALL God's SPIRIT; It's ALL God's GRACE!!  WOW!!!  I love this!! 4)HARD HEARTED.  Zech. 7:12 says the people's heart was hard.  "they made their hearts as an adamant stone".  Who would think that disobeying God a little would lead to such a state of hard heartedness?  Let's not start down that road! 5) PROPHECY.  Zechariah is full of prophetic verses about Christ.  In 9:9- "lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass". (Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem); 12:10- "they shall look upon me whom they have pierced" (spear in Christ's side); 13:6- "What are these wounds in thine hands?"  (nails in Christ's hands); 13:7- "smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered" (disciples running for cover in the upper room);  and many other that deal with the battle of Armageddon.  6) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.  The last book of the Old Testament is Malachi and it is a book of questions and answers.  God ask 16 questions, and man asks 10.  God is seeking for His people to return unto Him and he starts talks about the tithe.  "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  God knows that unless the people start tithing and giving their offerings again, that God does not have their hearts!!  Same thing today as well.  It's not about money, it's about our hearts.  That is why God says if we will give it, He will give it back "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over".  He doesn't need our cash, He wants our hearts!!   Hope you have a wonderful Friday.  May God bless!  Pastor Mike Mutchler