Tabernacle

It really does matter who your shepherds are.  Where are they leading you?  Zechariah shows us God’s anger, His hot anger, against leaders who offer lies and empty consolation to their flock.  Instead, He points us to our true Shepherd, our Cornerstone, who makes us mighty through His salvation, who calls us to follow Him into battle, who makes sheep into steeds.

How do you see the church? Is it a hospital where the spiritually wounded get

patched up? Or is it a classroom where we come to learn about the Bible? Maybe it

is a living room where we come together as a family? All of these are valid. But

consider two more metaphors in Zechariah 9. The church is an army that is

advancing against the enemy. It is also a flock that is fed and flourishing. Healthy

Christians and healthy churches can relate to all of these images.

Last week we looked closely at the warnings of Scripture. They can be hard to read, but they are given to us in love by a God who sees everything and warns us to stay away from danger. But what happens when we ignore the warnings? What happens when we fail? Please welcome Rev. Robert Cunningham from Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at UVA as he reminds us of what happened when Peter failed, and how Jesus restored him.

What do you think of warnings?  If someone is about to step on thin ice, they might appreciate a heads up!  That poison label on the bottle of drain cleaner isn't pretty, but it is lifesaving. Warnings are grace with a skull and crossbones sticker applied.  Don’t shrink from the warnings of Scripture.  Jesus is graciously warning us to turn from what is deadly to what will give us life.

Zechariah ministered to a group of God’s people who were returning to the basics of what it meant to repent and believe. God was restoring them through His merciful promises and gracious presence. Restoration has always been this way, ever since Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. Please welcome one of our own elders, Frank Root, as he reminds us that restoration will always be this way, as we keep looking to Jesus for our salvation.

Everybody wants to bet on a winning horse.  We want to be on the winning team.  Who would intentionally hitch their wagon to a loser?  This desire for blessing is what compels us.  It controls what we pursue with passion, and what we avoid at all costs.  If you want to know what a person thinks will bring him life, look at what he is reaching for.

Discipleship is often measured in terms of doing what Jesus does (WWJD?).  Or we emphasize believing what Jesus taught.  But if this is all there is to being a disciple, then we are missing something really important—the heart.  True disciples love what Jesus loves.  Do you know what Jesus loves more than anything else on earth?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the world is not the way it’s supposed to be.  But not everyone agrees on how to fix it.  Even if we could land on a universal solution, we lack the power and wisdom to implement it.  Christians claim that there is a plan in place to restore all things.  It is God’s solution and it is His power and wisdom that will bring it to completion on the Day when He returns to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.

A delegation comes to Jerusalem, seeking guidance from Zechariah about fasting.  Presumably, they are asking because they want God’s blessing, not His curse.  How would you respond?  How can we obtain God’s favor?  How do we remain in God’s favor?

After revealing the series of eight visions he received, Zechariah prophesied about Joshua, the high priest, being crowned as king. Three key biblical roles converge in this passage: prophet, priest, and king. God’s people need all three: truth, grace, and mission. Please welcome Jesse Robinson today as he unpacks Zechariah 6:9-15, showing us how all three roles overlap perfectly in the Person of Jesus, who come to build His church.