He Came and Found Us This teaching centers on the vital distinction between outward religious rituals and inward obedience to God, using the post-exilic community's question about continuing fasts as a springboard to expose the emptiness of religious practice devoid of genuine faith and justice. It emphasizes that God's primary concern has never been ritual observance but rather the consistent pursuit of justice, mercy, and compassion in daily life, as revealed through the prophets and fulfilled in Christ. The passage warns that when people harden their hearts, refuse to listen to God's Word, and neglect righteousness, their prayers become abominations and their lives become desolate, even as God promises a future where all things—eating, drinking, and sacrifice—will be done to His glory. The message culminates in a call to live with holy intentionality, where faith produces righteous actions, and every aspect of life becomes an act of worship, reflecting the transformative power of grace and the ultimate hope of a redeemed world. Living, Dying, Seeking, Serving, and Hoping Under the Lordship of Jesus Opening Word All right, well, let's jump in the Book. Let's jump in the Book. We could be anywhere, couldn't we? We just finished walking through Romans, and now we have stepped into Zechariah. And I'll tell you, there is always something in Romans. Always. You never exhaust it. You can preach it, teach it, walk through it, circle back around, and still find grace waiting on you. I was looking back and found some messages from three years ago that I had never shared from Romans. I was able to add those to the Romans series, and that brought us up to around 120 message