2022 Wk 10: Lesson 2 BE HOPEFUL

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Communion: The Body of Christ

Romans 12:4–5 NLT
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
1 Corinthians 12:12 NLT
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:4 NLT
For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.
Paul gives us instructions about communion—I want us to tie our hearts with his and with those that sat at the communion table the night Jesus was betrayed… we are One Body.
1 John 1:3 NLT
We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:7 NLT
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
1 Corinthians 11:23–24 NLT
For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
1 Corinthians 11:25–26 NLT
In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

Amen!

UPDATES:
Doors open at 10am
Tonight: The Chosen
6pm at the 1st Naz Church, bring some popcorn, candy, and something to drink and enjoy the movie.
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Wednesday MidWeek Service
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Men’s Breakfast
March 19th at First Nazarene Church located on North Okmulgee Ave. and the railroad tracks.
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Tuesday 6pm right here at Cornerstone. Pre-register at www.griefshare.org and sign up under Okmulgee.
Foursquare Summer Family Camp 2022
July 18-22 at the Salvation Army Campground--Heart O' Hills just outside of Tahlequah.
Family Camp this Year:
Children, youth, & adults are welcomed to register for a full week of events, from Monday afternoon to Friday morning. $250/camper
New Series:
“By My Spirit” Trusting God’s Plan—Not Mine.

Intro (i)

LET’S SOLVE THIS PUZZLE OF BLANKS:
We _______ God because we _______ God.
CLUE: In solving the first blank: as children we love to play Hide & Seek
We seek God because we _______ God.
CLUE: We often get two words mixed up when we feel something is missing.
Instead of saying we “want something” we say we “need something”
We seek God because we need God.
THINKING ABOUT IT…
when I get hungry I... look for food.
when I get thirsty I… look for something to drink.
when we are fed up— don’t we look for someone to dump on?
when we are lost and undone… feeling forgotten, incomplete, lacking of something...
we look for something to fill that longing— good or bad!!
We seek God because He is the only thing that will satisfy the God shaped hole inside of us— WE NEED GOD!

Israel was lost— they had been in captivity in Babylon and the Minor Prophets covered their sins and their restoration. Where they had been, where they were, and what they were becoming—the Body of Christ—Church of the New Testament.

796 - Amos prophetic Day of the Lord
796 to 719 - Hosea a future salvation
740 to 711 - Micah the Eternal is a just Judge
711 - Nahum the judgment on Nineveh
626 - Habakkuk God embracing Judah
626 - Zephaniah God's indignation, Israel's repentance and salvation
590 - Obadiah Edom's destruction and Israel's restoration
520 - Haggai the restored Temple points to the Church.
520 to 518 - Zechariah the coming of God's Kingdom
400 - Malachi about being prepared for the Messenger—John the Baptist
796 - Amos Amos wrote about the prophetic Day of the Lord. His predictions were against Israel, Judah, Benjamin and all nations. He spoke about the oppression of the poor, sexual immorality, wanton luxury and corrupt laws.
796 to 719 - Hosea Hosea wrote about salvation and his prophecies were against Israel (Ten Tribes of Israel). He condemned adultery, drunkenness, idolatry and licentiousness.
740 to 711 - Micah Micah wrote about how the Eternal is a just Judge. His prophetic words were against Samaria, Jerusalem and all nations. He condemned the lack of justice and oppression of the people.
711 - Nahum Nahum wrote about the judgment on Nineveh and the subsequent comfort to Israel. His prophecies were against the Assyrians (primarily Nineveh). He condemned the cruelty of Assyrians and their overstepping of boundaries.
626 - Habakkuk Habakkuk wrote about how God embraces Judah through destroying the Chaldeans. His prophetic utterings were against Babylon with implications for all people. He cried out against aggression, plunder, greed, graft, idolatry and inhumanity.
626 - Zephaniah Zephaniah's writings concerned God's indignation, Israel's repentance and their subsequent saving by the Lord. His inspired prophecies were against Judah and all people. He warned of spiritual fornication and the events with the Day of the Lord.
596 to 586 - Joel Joel's book mostly concerns the prophetic Day of the Lord. His words were against Israel and all people in general. He condemened adultery, drunkenness, idolatry and licentiousness.
590 - Obadiah Obadiah spoke about the Day of the Lord, Edom's destruction and Israel's restoration as a people.
520 - Haggai Haggai wrote about how the restoration Temple points to the Church. His words also centered on Zerubbabel, Joshua and the returning remnant of God's people. He condemned the neglect in building God's House.
520 to 518 - Zechariah Zechariah was inspired to record that the coming of God's Kingdom will be preceded by the building of the Temple. His prophecies concerned Zerubbabel and Joshua the High Priest. He also spoke about the symbolic nature of Joshua's filthy garments and the people's lack of judgment, mercy and peace.
c. 400 - Malachi Malachi, the last of the minor prophets, wrote about being prepared for the Messenger (John the Baptist) that is to come. His messages was primarily directed toward Israel and the 'Israel of God' today (the church). He spoke against the priests neglecting their duties, as well as chiding the people for practicing divorce, adultery, and robbing God of tithes.
OUR FOCUS IS The Lord coming to Zachariah and saying… Not by your power or strength can you accomplish this… only by my Spirit!
Zechariah 4:6 NIV
So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
Spirit meaning...
Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) (8120 רוּחַ)
Spirit, i.e.,
The third member of the God-head,
the divine Power of God,
He can be grieved (Isa 63:10),
Identified with the LORD himself,
Referred to as spirit, mind, heart, i.e., the psychological faculty which can respond to God (2Ch 36:22 “Stirred the heart of Cyrus”),
Breath, i.e., unit of air that comes from the lungs
specifically in this text “God’s Breath”
Paul echos this Spirit Power in the NT passage
1 Corinthians 4:20 NLT
For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.

Who wrote the book? (ii)

Zechariah was the grandson of the priest Iddo,

Zechariah prophesied to the people of Judah after they returned from their seventy years of exile in Babylon (Zechariah 1:1; Nehemiah 12:1, 4, 16).

Zechariah’s grandfather returned from Babylon, his young grandson in tow, with the first group of Israelites allowed back, in 538 BC under the decree of Cyrus, king of Persia.

Because of his family lineage, Zechariah was a priest in addition to a prophet. He, therefore, would have had an intimate familiarity with the worship practices of the Jews, even if he had never served in a completed temple.

Zechariah records eight visions.

As a “young man” at the time of his first prophetic vision (Zechariah 2:4), he most likely lived into the reign of Xerxes also known as king of Persia Ahasuerus (485–465 BC).

Xerxes is the king best known in the Bible for making Esther the queen of Persia. (Esther 1:1). (iii)

Esther 1:1 NLT
These events happened in the days of King Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia.

Where are we?

Zechariah, a young man, especially when compared to his contemporary Haggai, came alongside the older prophet to deliver messages from the Lord to Israel—the Jewish remnant.

They had recently returned from Babylon.

While Haggai’s overall message had more of a cautionary tone to it (pointing out the Jews’ sin and self-focus),

Zechariah emphasized a tone of encouragement to the struggling Israelites trying to rebuild their temple.

Zechariah’s dated visions and messages in chapters 1–8 all take place in the same general time period as Haggai’s, beginning in October–November 520 BC with a call for the people of Judah to repent. (Zechariah 1:1).

LISTEN TO THE HOPE IN THIS PASSAGE:
Zechariah 1:2–3 NLT
“I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors. Therefore, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’

He then received eight visions on the restless night of February 15, 519 BC (1:7), followed by four messages that he preached on December 7, 518 BC (7:1).

Though his final messages in chapters 9–14 go undated, the mention of Greece in 9:13 suggests the prophecies came much later in his life, presumably sometime in the 480s BC.

Before Ezra (458 BC) and BEFORE Nehemiah (444 BC) would arrive to again revitalize the Jewish people.

Why is Zechariah so important?

The book of Zechariah contains the clearest and the largest number of messianic (about the Messiah) passages among the Minor Prophets.

In that respect, it’s possible to think of the book of Zechariah as a kind of miniature book of Isaiah.

Zechariah pictures Christ in both

His first coming (Zechariah 9:9) and

His second coming (9:10–10:12).

Jesus will come, according to Zechariah, as Savior, Judge, and ultimately, as the righteous King ruling His people from Jerusalem (14:8–9).

What's the big idea?

Meaning “Yahweh remembers,” Zechariah’s name was appropriate to the purpose of his prophecies. (iv)

His book is full of hope...

that God would remember His promises to His people, even after all the time they spent outside the land.

Like many of the prophets, Zechariah saw isolated snapshots of the future; therefore, certain events that seem to occur one right after the other in Zechariah’s prophecy were actually generations or even millennia between them.

For a people newly returned from exile, Zechariah provided specific prophecy about their immediate and distant future—no doubt a great encouragement.

Their nation would still be judged for sin (5:1–11), but they would also be cleansed and restored.

READ FROM: Zachariah 3:1–10

and God will rebuild His people (1:7–17).

Zechariah concluded his book by looking into the distant future:

first at the rejection of the Messiah by Israel (9:1–11:17),

and then at His eventual reign when Israel will finally be delivered (12:1–14:21).

How do I apply this?

REMEMBER:
We seek God because we need God.
If we return to God, He will return to us.

The book of Zechariah is worth reading as it contains the clearest and the largest number of messianic passages among the Minor Prophets.

The book is full of HOPE!

God is not forgetful—“Yahweh remembers,”

Have you struggled with discouragement? Read Zechariah.
While the book contains its share of judgments on the people of Judah and beyond, it overflows with hope in the future reign of the Lord over His people.
It’s easy to get caught up in the oftentimes depressing events of day-to-day life, to lose our perspective and live as people without hope.
The book of Zechariah serves as a correction for that tendency in our lives. We have a hope that is sure. How refreshing is that!
“Powerful prayers are unified.” Chris Hodges, Pastor/Church of the Highlands (i)
WHEN WE GET UNIFIED WITH GOD, HIS WORD, AND HIS PEOPLE—BIG THINGS HAPPEN!
2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Matthew 18:18–20 NIV
“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
“There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.” ~ Arthur Tappan Pierson, an American Presbyterian pastor, leader, missionary and writer. (v)
“By My Spirit” is us praying unified by the Spirit.
RESOURCES:
i. Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands, By My Spirit series August 2021, https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/spirit-filled-prayer
ii. Chuck Swindoll’s overview of Zechariah, https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-minor-prophets/zechariah. Listen to Chuck Swindoll’s overview of Zechariah in his audio message from the Classic series God’s Masterwork.
iii. Following the Hebrew text, many translations of Esther call the king of Persia Ahasuerus, the Hebrew name for Xerxes.
iv. F. Duane Lindsey, "Zechariah," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, ed. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1985), 1545.
v. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Tappan_Pierson
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