Category Archives: Jesus

Zechariah 1- Call To Repentance

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In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, “The LORD has been very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not hear nor heed Me,” says the LORD. “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? “So they returned and said: ‘Just as the LORD of hosts determined to do to us, According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us.’ ” ’ ” Zechariah 1:1-6

Today we begin our journey through the prophet Zechariah, I think he’s probably one of the forgotten prophets, yet might be one of the most important prophets with regards to the second coming of Christ. Zechariah, by the Holy Spirit, gives great details about the death of Christ and His return, including the exact location. Zechariah was an actual priest, he was alive during the restoration of Israel from exile in Babylon, and he was preaching during the time of the rebuild of the 2nd temple, with the prophet Haggai

According to The Lord Jesus , in the gospel of Matthew, , the prophet Zechariah was eventually murdered by the religious leaders  in the temple courtyard (Matthew 23:34-36) This is no surprise as they eventually crucified The Lord for preaching the truth also!

The prophet Zechariah begins, like all the prophets and apostles, a message of repentance “Return to Me, says The Lord and I will return to you” A very simple message of repentance, if we would just turn from our sins and turn to God, he will forgive and save us. However the human heart is stubborn and hard, just like Israel always fell away, we see the same behavior in the Church, a call to repentance is necessary for all mankind!

This is consistent with the same message Christ had preached from the very beginning “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) And while the call to repentance is so offensive to the human heart, its actually a beautiful thing that God is willing to forgive and restore us back into relationship with Him, despite all of our failures and short comings

Despite the countless times God called Israel to repentance , he reminds them “they did not hear nor head me” What’s it going to take for us to repent to God? When are we going to turn from our evil ways and turn to The Lord Jesus Christ for salvation? 

God reminds them, Israel repented before and they can restore their relationship with God again “So they returned” a beautiful reminder of Gods love, patience, and mercy. However , everyone then seems to forget their covenant with God, as the Apostle Peter stated “Like a dog going back to their vomit” (2 Peter 2:22) Just like Israel, we need to break the cycle of sin and Return to The Lord!

Philemon 1- Confidence in Your Obedience

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Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. But, meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Philemon 1:21-25

As we are coming to the end of this epistle, the Apostle Paul is ending it with “Having confidence in your obedience” Paul is very sure that Philemon and the Church will do the right thing, to restore Onesimus as a brother in Christ, why? Because this Church is led by the Holy Spirit, and Paul knows all of them very well. In fact, Paul is so confident in them he states “knowing that you will do even more than I say”

Churches are going to be tested, Satan is going to try and divide the body of Christ, we must cling to the precious word of God “ Forgive one another as Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32)  The Apostle Paul knows this Church is truly led by the Holy Spirit, truly obedient to Christ, truly bow a knee to our Father in Heaven. How many Churches have split apart over simple disagreements? 

Here’s an interesting statement Paul makes “prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you” Its historically documented that Paul was imprisoned by Rome twice, when Paul wrote this during his frist imprisonment, he was released and probably eventually visited the Church of Colossae. Paul was sure that through the prayers of the Church, he would be released and be able to visit them one more time, and the Holy Spirit was right!

Next the Apostle Paul closes with mentioning so well know Christians and some maybe not so well known Christians. Epaphras, who is also mentioned in the Epistle of Colossians (Colossians 1:7, 4:12) was said to be probably the one who planted the Church in Colossae and preached the gospel to the people of the area. Epaphras was also believed to have traveled to Rome to visit Paul in prison to update him on anything going on, it was also believed he was a Gentile

Of course we all know Mark (known as John Mark) author of the Gospel of Mark, and Dr. Luke (author of Gospel of Luke) And probably the lesser known Christians, Aristarchus, we known as a fellow servant with Paul, more well known from the book of Acts 19, who was arrested with Paul during the riot in Ephesus

Then the Apostle Paul ends with an encouraging reminder “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” Reminding the Church, they are not just followers of Christ but Born Again in Christ, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father, Amen!