Sermon on January 7 by Pastor Roland Eskinazi

ZECHARIAH 4: 1-14 (focus: v 6)

What does the Lord want most from you in 2018?
When they returned from 70 years in Babylon, the Hebrews were where they wanted to be, but not where they needed to be.

God’s desire for you this year:

1. DO NOT STAY AS YOU ARE! (see Zech. 1: 1-6)

• In a noisy world we can be lured into spiritual dullness
  Is repentance a part of the rhythm of your spiritual life? Repentance is not for just ‘the wicked’, but the enthusiastic too!
  It is because God is the God of new beginnings and second chances that we dare not stay as we are. (Ps. 63:1; James 4:7)
• In a busy church we can slip into business as usual
  Will you give yourself in this year to study of your own heart- and study of the Bible?
  You will not stand before Christ to give a review of the sermons you heard.
  All of us will stand before Him and give a review of our lives.

2. DEPEND ON THE SPIRIT, NOT SELF AND SKILL! (4:6-10)

• With God’s resource, the sky is the limit
  God uses people and their skills. But before they take the gospel to the world, the disciples must first go to the Upper Room and be Spirit-empowered. (Acts 1:4,5)

‘What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but those whom the Holy Spirit can use -men and women of prayer, men and women mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men and women. He does not anoint plans, but men and women, men and woman of prayer.” (E.M. Bounds-The Power of Prayer)

• The more you serve the Lord, the less of you should be in it
  God shows Zerubbabel that the more the Spirit has of him, the less of him will be in it and the more he will achieve.
  In this year expect God to show His power not so much in outward displays of energy but inward acts of grace in the heart (1 Kings 18)

3. DESIRE HIM FIRST- AND DO YOUR PART!
‘ The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and His name the only name’ (Zech 14:9)

• If Jesus is Lord, small contributions matter
  If Jesus is the Lord, and is risen – every seed you sow will not be too small to bear it’s fruit.
• Since Jesus is Lord, run for eternity – not just 2018
  God’s message to His people was that radical is normal! Will that be said of us as a church?

Remember! A year of opportunities lies ahead. Keep first things first. Return. Depend. Then go out and tell!

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