Jesus our Messiah-King | The Book of Zechariah | Gary Hamrick

we come here to now the 11th out of 12 of the Minor Prophets the last 12 books of your Old Testaments known as the Minor Prophets again not because these are less important than the other prophets but these are typically prophets who their books are less than what the other prophets had to say now this is an exception Zechariah is considered a minor prophet Daniel is considered one of the major prophets and yet Zechariah has more to say than Daniel did so it's not strict in terms of you know the length but Zechariah is the longest of the minor prophets he has 14 chapters here for us and every Sunday since we started this series I've just have been taking one of the minor prophets every Sunday kind of focusing on a major theme even though Zechariah has 14 chapters we're still gonna stay true to that we're gonna focus on a major theme here from this book I'm gonna read the first four verses of chapter 1 then I'm gonna give a little introduction to this book before we pray and dig out the study today but if you have your Bibles there is Zechariah chapter 1 I'll read verses 1 through 4 it says in the eighth month of the second year of Darius he was king of Persia the word of the lord came to zechariah the son of berechiah the son of ido the prophet saying the lord has been very angry with your fathers therefore say to them thus says the lord of hosts returned to me says the lord of hosts and i will return to you says the lord of hosts do not be like your father's to whom the former prophets preached saying thus says the lord of hosts turned now from your evil ways and your evil deeds but they did not hear nor heed me says the Lord so the book of Zechariah opens with Zechariah saying listen God wants to get your attention don't be like your forefathers when God sent prophets they didn't hear them and they didn't heed what they had to say but turn to the Lord and if you turn to the Lord he will turn to you and so the beginning of the book here is just this call for just come humbly before the Lord turned to him he will turn to you and so it opens up in this way a little background here on Zechariah his name in Hebrew is pronounced Zakaria Zakaria translates the Lord remembers it's it's interesting by the way that in the little genealogy that he gives us here in chapter 1 verse 1 he tells us that zechariah the son of berechiah the son of ido the prophet zechariah zayn means the Lord remembers his father's name Barak ayah means the Lord blesses and ìdo means timely and when you string together those three generations it's it translates the Lord remembers and blesses in his time and it really is kind of a wonderful intro to the book of Zechariah because Zechariah is ministering the people that probably thought God had forgotten them because they had spent 70 years in captivity in Babylon and then God moved the heart of King Cyrus before Darius to allow the Jews to go back to their homeland and so they need some encouragement and Zechariah starts his book by basically saying if you string together me and previous two generations I've come from it is a reminder that the Lord remembers and the Lord blesses in his time and so it's a word of encouragement here and Zechariah prophesized in 520 BC the same year that Haggai the previous book that we read last week ministered in 520 BC and again to the remnant of the Jews who have returned from captivity after 70 years in Babylon therefore as we said last week the book and the events of Zechariah like Haggai fit within the book of Ezra so further earlier near Old Testament you have the book of Ezra and the events of Haggai and Zechariah fit within that storyline Zechariah called a young man in chapter 2 verse 4 and most Bible scholars believe he was probably a teenager that he may have been about seventeen years of age when God calls him here as a prophet to his own people which is you know an another reminder you're never too young and you're never too old God can use people for his glory and for his purposes Zechariah is quoted more than 40 times in the New Testament he has quoted more than any other minor prophet in the new testament particularly in the gospels but tragically we learned from Jesus that Zechariah was brutally murdered for simply being a prophet I'm gonna read you don't need to turn there but in Matthew chapter 23 Jesus said this when he was rebuking the religious leaders of his day he said you serpents you brood of vipers how can you escape the condemnation of hell therefore indeed I send you prophets wise men and scribes some of them you will kill and crucify and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city that on you he pronounces this judgment that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous abel to the blood of zechariah son of berechiah whom you murdered between the temple and the altar so jesus tells us something that we don't read in the Old Testament Zechariah was brutally murdered for being a prophet at some point in his life now it is curious as to why because at least in the book of zechariah zechariah does not say anything harsh confrontational rebuking about sin like much of the other prophets did zechariah brings a word of encouragement so maybe at some other point he said some things that ticked some people off but we don't have the cause or the reason why he was murdered as brutally as he was but at some point he was he was murdered for whatever reason they killed him and Zechariah's message is really a message of encouragement and so again there's nothing in this book that gives us reason to understand why would people murder him the main theme of this book is about hope and encouragement concerning the promise of a messiah king that's why Zeca writes this he's writing about the hope and encouragement concerning a messiah king and the book is considered the most prophetic of the minor prophets related to end times zechariah prophesized more about the first and second coming of jesus then all the other minor prophets combined and for that reason it's impossible for me to teach this book without talking about the first and second coming Jesus Christ that's what we're gonna talk about today it's gonna be a a Bible prophecy morning because you know Zechariah writes of these things concerning the first and second coming all of that was prophetic for him now some of that obviously for us is historic because Jesus has come his first coming he has died on a cross he ascended back into heaven but the part that Zachariah writes about his second coming has yet to be fulfilled and so obviously that is still in the future for us as well but but thus we're gonna be looking a little bit at the historicity of Christ and the prophecy of Christ and and why is it important why is this important for us to also understand what Zechariah was writing at 520 BC because the fact of the matter is that the same hope and encouragement that applied to the people of Zechariah's day still applies to us the hope and the promise of a messiah King that's what we need to be reminded of and that'll be the subject of today's study let's first pray father we thank you for this time in your word today I thank you for all those who are here and those who are watching online we just want to commit all of this to you Lord it's for your glory and for your honor and we trust that you will take your word and apply it now to our hearts that we would be encouraged today challenged in whatever ways maybe we need to be challenged that you would just use this time now to minister to our hearts and to draw us closer to you and we thank you for your grace and your love in our lives and we commit this time now to you be glorified we ask in Jesus name and everybody said amen well I heard the story about a state trooper who was you know set up a radar trap along the highway and catching speeders but all of a sudden he noticed on his radar gone that there was just one vehicle that was only going 22 miles an hour in a 55 and so he decided I got to pull this car over because you know if you go too slow on the highway you can be just as much of a danger as if you go too fast so he pulls the car over and when he walks up to the car he sees five elderly women in the car two elderly ladies in the front seat three in the backseat he noticed that they look terrified and he said to the ladies he said you all realized that you were not going the speed limit and and the driver she said well with all due respect officer I was going exactly the speed limit I was going 22 miles an hour and he says no ma'am no ma'am that's that's the route number you're on route 22 this is this is 55 miles an hour but you're on route 22 that's not the speed limit she's I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I didn't know that and so he says I'll just let you off with a warning today but he couldn't pull his eyes away from the fact that all the passengers look so terrified so terrified in the car and so he just he just said gently you know can I ask why all of you seemed to be so frightened so terrified and then the lady driver she said Oh officer it's gonna be fine in a few minutes but we just pulled off from route 119 what when when don't you love I love that one that's a good do you want to hear another one that has nothing to do with it no I'm not gonna I don't want to get sidetracked I don't want to get sidetracked whenever I start talking about Bible prophecy some of you look like you've just come off of route 119 it starts you start to get you like terrified like what does this mean and you know and and you end up acting like Chicken Little like the sky is falling and you become a Christian little like it's just you know what does this mean Armageddon and Jesus coming again and blood moons and all this kind of stuff relax already okay because the fact of the matter is that when we talk about Bible prophecy and again some of this is historical for us but some of it is prophetic for us we're talking about the hope of the church that when we speak about Jesus coming again this is our blessed hope this is this is what makes life more endurable because when we realize that our life is not simply about the here and now our life is about eternity and that we have a lord who's coming again and God has sent Messiah King for our benefit the fact of the matter is that there are two basic human needs that are universal all of us have that can only be met in the Messiah King the one need is the need to be right with God every single person intuitively knows they need to be right with God don't always know how to get there but they they know I need to be right with God the second need that every human being has is is the need to be ready for death because death is the universal equalizer and everybody is aware that their days are numbered and and by the way the clock it don't think just because you might be young that you have a lot of days still to be numbered I've done more funerals for people under 40 than over 40 you just don't know and so all of us need to be ready because life is not just simply about here and now I mean how cruel would it be if this is all that there was that you were just born and you grew up you went to school you got a job maybe it got married maybe you had kids then you retired from your job and you moved to Florida and then they put you in a pine box and threw dirt over you I mean is that it is that as good as it gets because that means that life is pretty cruel and death would be a very cruel thing I read once Arnold Schwarzenegger said how angry he was about death and that was because his brother many many years ago died in a car accident at the age of 24 and so Schwarzenegger was always very angry about that and the loss of his brother and Schwarzenegger once said quote I've always been extremely angry about the idea of death it's such a waste I know it's inevitable but what the blank is that your whole life you work you try to improve yourself you save money you invest wisely and all of a sudden poof it's over death angers me more than ever end quote well the fact of the matter is the death angers God - and so he did something about it he sent to Messiah King so that number one we can be right with God and number two we can know where we go when we die and the name of that Messiah King is Jesus he is our Messiah King now Zechariah does not mention him by name but he gives such details concerning this Messiah King that it can only apply to Jesus because he was the one who fulfilled all these details related to his first coming and you better believe that if Jesus fulfilled all the details concerning his first coming in the Bible not just the prophecies found in the book of Zechariah there are more than 300 prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the first coming of Jesus Jesus fulfilled them all that's not coincidental that's a divine appointment that if Jesus fulfilled more than 300 prophecies related to his first coming you better believe he's also going to fulfill every prophecy related to a second coming and there are more than three times as many prophecies about his second coming when there were his first coming so Zechariah writes about both here now from his standpoint 5:20 BC it's all prophetic some of its historic for us but nevertheless we're gonna take a look at the way that Zechariah breaks down these things in his letter here in his in his book concerning Jesus he sees three stages about the mission and ministry of Jesus which is exactly consistent with the Gospels in the New Testament zechariah writes about the meek messiah he writes about the suffering suffering Savior and then he writes about the coming king and so the first thing that Zechariah prophesies about concerning Jesus is how he would come as a meek Messiah now this is again the first coming of Christ I want you to go with me in your Bibles to chapter 9 from chapter 9 to 14 are the chapters that are really the prophetic chapters about Jesus and again we're starting with his first coming but I want you to see a prophecy here in zechariah 9:9 that matthew says was fulfilled on the day that jesus came to jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday zechariah saw this and he wrote this in zechariah 9:9 rejoice greatly o daughter of Zion shout o daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you he is just at having salvation lowly and riding on a donkey a Colt the foal of a donkey now again Matthew tells us that in 32 ad this was fulfilled on the day that Jesus comes into Jerusalem riding on a donkey to the Hales of the people who were ascribing to him messianic titles as they were waving palm branches and laying them in the road Matthew quotes zechariah 9:9 in his gospel I'll just read it you don't need to turn there it's Matthew 21 I'm gonna read the first nine verses now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives Jesus sent two disciples saying to them go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a Colt with her loosed them and bring them to me and if anyone says anything to you you shall say the Lord has need of them and immediately he will send them now listen they put it in modern context what Jesus was asking his Plus to do was I want you to go to local Cracker Barrel and you're gonna see parked in front of it a beautiful Ford f-150 I want you to Hotwire the thing and I want you to drive it to me and if anybody asks you why are you doing this you just say Jesus needs it because that's that's the similar thing what's happening here a donkey was a beast of burden you would ride it it's like hot-wiring somebody's car and stealing it but just saying the Lord needs it and driving off with it and so this is what he's asking them to do I wonder if any of the disciples were like who's gonna do this you want to do this I want to do this but then Matthew quotes Zechariah and he says all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet saying and then he quotes right out of zechariah 9:9 tell the daughter of Zion behold your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey a Colt the foal of a donkey and so the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them and they brought the donkey and the Colt laid their clothes on them and set him on them and a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road and others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road and then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out saying Hosanna to the son of David blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord hosanna in the highest this is a remarkable scene I know it's familiar to many of you the whole Palm Sunday story here it is Jesus coming into Jerusalem the week just before he's going to be crucified and he comes fulfilling zechariah 9:9 you see God gives different opportunities for people to realize oh this is exactly the Messiah because this is an aspect of what the Prophet said Zechariah said he would come riding on a donkey but Zechariah uses the word lonely matthew repeats it when he quotes zechariah this is jesus coming in a lowly humble way this is the meek Messiah he doesn't come in like this raging warrior he comes in as a meek Messiah and the people are laying down palm branches as a way of just honoring him like a messiah king and they're actually quoting from the Book of Psalms quoting messianic passages to him because they recognize that he's Messiah King but they have no idea what Jesus has come to do for them they think that Jesus has come to set them free from the oppression of the Roman government little did they know that really what Jesus came to do was to set mankind free from the oppression of sin that by his death on a cross he would pay the price for our sins as a substitutionary offering to satisfy and appease the wrath of God which must be executed because of our sinful rebellion against God but instead of God executing it upon us he determined I will execute it upon my son because I loved the world and I'm gonna send my son to die for the world that the punishment intended for the world would be placed on my son Jesus that's the truth and that's the message of the gospel so that by faith in Jesus we might be forgiven we might be made right with God and Jesus comes as the meek Messiah 32 ad down the streets of Jerusalem to be crucified for our sins he comes in meekness not weakness meekness does not mean weakness meekness means you consider others you esteem others better than yourself it means there's no pride he comes in humble he comes in lowly he doesn't come in to assert his power or his justice not now not yet but he comes in to demonstrate his love and His mercy for us by humbly dying in a cross and Romans 5:8 says that God demonstrated his love for us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us can I get an amen on that right that's what Christ has come to do for and God demonstrates his love for us John would say in first John 4:10 this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins which leads us to the second aspect of the mission and ministry of Jesus Zechariah also writes about how Jesus came as our suffering Savior if you go in your Bibles there to chapter 11 of Zechariah in Zechariah chapter 11 check this out Zechariah even predicts the price that will be paid Judas for betraying Jesus thirty pieces of silver 520 years before Christ Zechariah says the betrayal price will be thirty pieces of silver in Zechariah 11 verses 12 and 13 then I said to them if it is agreeable to you give me my wages and if not refrain so they wait out for my wages 30 pieces of silver and the Lord said to me throw it to the potter that princely price they set on me so I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the Potter now in the margin of your Bible you might just want to write down Matthew 27 verses 3 to 10 right there next to Zacharias Evan 12 and 13 just to the margin you can write down Matthew 27 3 to 10 and here's a reason because Matthew tells us that this again is a prophecy that was fulfilled when Judas took thirty pieces of silver from the religious leaders to betray Jesus and in Matthew's Gospel it tells us the rest of the story Judas takes the thirty pieces of silver the exact amount Zechariah prophesize takes it betrays Jesus and then remorse fills his heart remorse fills Judas his heart he doesn't repent but he's remorseful there's a big difference and so he takes the thirty pieces of silver and the Bible says that he throws it back into the temple throws it back to the chief priests and the religious leaders doesn't want it and then he goes out and hangs himself and it tells us that the religious leaders took the thirty pieces of silver now check this out what hypocrisy they gave this is Blood Money they gave this money to Judas to betray Jesus but when Judas gives it back they're like well we can't touch this as Blood Money well you touched it on the way out why can't you touch it on the way in they said we can't touch this as blood money so the Bible says they took the thirty pieces of silver and brought bought a field in Jerusalem as a burial ground for strangers and they bought the field from the Potter a fulfillment of Zechariah thirty pieces of from the Potter now Judas betrays Jesus Jesus is crucified dies in a cross buried in a tomb for three days after three days rises from the dead then the Bible says for forty days he appears to people in his resurrected body and then after that he ascends back into heaven from the Mount of Olives where he is presently seated the right hand of the father making intercession for you and me he is our suffering Savior and Zechariah writes about how when Jesus comes again he will still bear the marks of his suffering he will still bear the marks of his crucifixion look further here in Zechariah chapter 12 now from chapter 12 to the end of the book this is all in our future Zechariah writes about future things concerning the second coming of Jesus and here in Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 it says and I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem speaking primarily about the Jewish people here the spirit of grace and supplication and then they will look on me whom they pierced yes they will mourn for him as one mourns for His only Son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn in that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem like the mourning at Haddad Ramon in the plain of megiddo now pause there and notice with me God is saying here that he's going to open the eyes of the Jewish people that Christ is going to return and when Jesus returns one of the things that is going to happen is God is gonna pour out a spirit of grace and supplication among the Jewish people that they will become broken in heart and they will become contrite and they will see Jesus in his resurrected body as he appears when he comes back to earth and they will see the marks of his crucifixion and they will weep and they will grieve because they will realize all this it was said of you was true and there will be a Great Awakening among the Jewish people in the latter days concerning seeing him as Messiah as Messiah and they will weep it says as one weeps bitterly over a firstborn and it talks there about him own Riyadh and rather Haddad Ramon what is that what is the significance of a dot Ramon Haddad Ramon was a staging area was a city when the Assyrians came before the Babylonians 7:23 BC the Assyrians came besieged the northern part of Israel took captive Jewish people and at Haddad Ramon separated children from their parents separated family members and there was great weeping and there was great mourning on that day and Zechariah says it'll be similar to that when Jesus returns Zechariah says here that it will be like that among those who see the crucified Lord in his resurrected state because they will realize that they had historically participated in his crucifixion while denying who he rightfully was and they will weep about it they will weep about it go over to chapter 13 there's another significant point here chapter 13 verse 6 they will weep about this and chapter 13 verse 6 and one will say to him what are these wounds between your arms and then he will answer those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends now the Hebrew is tricky here in chapter 13 verse 6 it says they will ask where'd you receive these marks these marks between your arms so the Hebrew word there is Yad and Yad can mean arms or hand it means any kind of extension of of your arms and so some interpret it to mean between your arms is the place between your shoulder blades which would be an indication that the the scourging marks of Jesus will be visible to them and in either means that or Yad can be translated hands and some of your Bible translations say they will ask where did you these marks in your hands and it can refer to the marks of the crucifixion that the nail marks either way it works either way it works that either refers to the scourging scars on his back or refers to the crucifixion nail prints in his hands but when they see him bearing the marks of his crucifixion somebody once said there's only one man-made thing in heaven the marks of the crucifixion of Jesus pairs and when people see him when Jesus Christ returns they will ask where did you get these and Jesus will tenderly lovingly answer I received these wounds at the house of my friends you know Jesus said in John chapter 15 verse 13 no greater love has abandoned this than to lay down his life for his friends Jesus sees us as his friends even though every single one of us technically speaking nailed him to that cross the Jewish people historically participated the Romans historically participated but realistically every single one of us participated because Jesus went to the cross to pay the price for all of our sin and he stayed there because of his love for us he was our suffering Savior not because not because man overpowered him but because he laid his life down he laid his life down the humble the meek Messiah the lowly one who came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey not as this majestic warrior but as a just a meek Messiah is not overpowered by man but being gone in flesh he surrenders to the will of the Father for the sacrifice of the sins of the world and he lays his life down as our suffering Savior he took on the punishment intended for us so that we wouldn't have to suffer he suffered in our place that whip was for you those nails were for you that crown of thorns was for you it was for me was for all of us jesus said in Luke 9:22 the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day which brings us to the last point here that Zechariah outlines for us the coming King Jesus rises from the dead ascends back into heaven and we are reminded in the Bible not just here in Zechariah that Jesus is coming again look at chapter 14 in Zechariah chapter 14 he sees this day now again this is still in our future obviously Jesus has not come yet but he is coming again in Zechariah writes in chapter 14 verse 1 behold the day of the Lord is coming and your spoil will be divided in your midst for I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem what's he talking about Armageddon it's a prophecy about the Battle of Armageddon I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem the city shall be taken the houses rifled and the women ravished half of the city shall go into captivity but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city and then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle and in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem on the east and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west making a very large Valley half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south pause there for a moment Zechariah is describing a time that is outlined in Revelation chapter 16 the Battle of Armageddon when the various nations will converge in Israel to fight against Israel and in effect to fight against the God of Israel and when they come they will converge at the place known as Armageddon it's taken from two Hebrew words har Megiddo the hill of Megiddo and the shadow of Megiddo is the Jezreel Valley which is where this battle will be fought Napoleon once stood on Megiddo and said oh that I would love to fight a battle in this valley he was French but there will come a day when all these different nations will gather in the valley of megiddo there in the Jezreel Valley to fight against Israel to fight against the Lord and Zechariah seized the day however verse 3 when the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations and Jesus will come again and he will defeat all these armies that have come against Israel he will bring victory and when he comes Zechariah specific here that Jesus will return to earth to the Mount of Olives this is just east of Jerusalem in fact in Acts chapter 1 when the disciples follow Jesus to the Mount of Olives on the day that Jesus ascended from them when he was taken up into heaven two angels appeared and said to the disciples in effect don't be afraid don't be worried you saw him go this way he's gonna come back the same way to the same place Zechariah reminds us the same place 520 years before Christ that Jesus ascended will be the place where Jesus returns and when Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives the Bible predicts that there will be a great earthquake and it will split the Mount of Olives range the hill written the mountain range there half of the mountains moved to the North half move to the south and it creates this valley from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea and the Bible tells us that fresh water will come forth underneath the Temple Mount of Jerusalem some kind of artesian well or something that emerges as a result of this earthquake and the Bible says that half of the water will travel to the western sea which is the Mediterranean and the other half will flow down to the eastern sea which is the Dead Sea and check this out Ezekiel chapter 47 prophesized that the Dead Sea which presently has the highest salinity content 37% at the Atlantic Ocean is 3% okay the Dead Sea is 37% salinity Ezekiel 47 says on the day that the fresh water flows from underneath Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea it will make the Dead Sea fresh water teeming with life okay so I've said this before I always will say if you want to get a corner on the market early a bait and tackle shop down by the Dead Sea they'll laugh at you now because not a living thing is in the Dead Sea they'll laugh at you now but you'll be making money hand over fist if you just wait it out not that it's about money but anyway when that day comes it's just always going to be about the Lord for sure but this is what the Bible says look here in Zechariah 14 verses 8 and 9 and in that day it shall be that living water shall flow from Jerusalem half of them toward the eastern sea as the Dead Sea and half of them toward the western sea the Mediterranean in both summer and winter it shall occur verse 9 and the Lord shall be king over all the earth and in that day it shall be the Lord is one and his name 1 jesus is coming again and unlike his first coming when he came meek and mild riding on a donkey his second coming revelation 19 says will be on a white horse with fire in his eyes and his name will be faithful and true and he will come with justice and to make war and he will settle the score and defeat all those armies that have converged there in the valley of Megiddo and Jesus will establish his kingdom on earth for 1000 years and then after that the Bible says a new heaven and a new earth and so we shall be with the Lord forever he came once as meek Messiah died a suffering Savior but he's coming again as our king over all the earth this is the hope of the church this is the hope of the church [Music] [Applause] [Music] but the question is are you ready for him are you ready for him two greatest needs that are universal among all people the need to be right with God and the need to know what happens when you die the Messiah King Jesus resolved both of those we can be made right with God if we have faith in him God implemented a plan for us 2,000 years ago because of our sin we've been alienated from God and God determined to reconcile man to God and he did that through Jesus Christ Jesus took on the punishment intended for us Jesus died in our place so that we wouldn't have to suffer the consequences for our sin and all God wants of us is to acknowledge that belief by faith and to say thank you Jesus that you died for my sin thank you that you took the punishment intended for me thank you that you've spared me how and you've opened up heaven because I can trust you and what you did for me on the cross if you don't know that if you've never received Christ as your personal Lord and Savior let me just ask you I mean just by just being direct what do you have to lose because if you decide you don't want to do that you have everything to lose if you decide I want to receive Christ as my savior you have nothing to lose and everything to gain and so I want to give you the opportunity today before you leave here we don't need to be like Chicken Little Jesus is coming out where the sky is falling what is it we can be people who are encouraged and have the hope of knowing that the one who loved us is the one who died for us is the one who is coming again so trust him as your Lord and Savior so that whether you die or whether you were alive when he returns you'll be ready to meet your Savior and he will usher you into the kingdom well done good and faithful servant let's pray together father when we think about what you have shown us in advance in your word our hearts are reminded of the hope that we have in Christ we don't live just for this world we live just for this life you offer us eternal life you came Jesus to reconcile us with God that we might be in right relationship with him and we thank you that you suffered in our and our behalf that you you paid the price for us you you died for our sins and we want to be ready to meet you whether we died and meet you or whether you come again and we meet you Lord we want to be ready so I pray that those who don't know you Lord in a personal way will today make a decision that they too can know you that they would open up their hearts and trust you as Lord and Savior then I'm gonna pause in my prayer right now with your eyes closed still your heads bowed and I just want to speak to those of you who you've never really entered into a relationship with Jesus maybe you have heard about him you know about him you know the historical Jesus you think he's a decent profit or maybe a good teacher but you don't really know him as Savior and Lord I want to invite you to ask him into your life today to forgive you of your sins for you to commit your life to Him and to receive them as your Lord and Savior and so if you want to do that today I'm gonna pray a simple prayer right now and I just want to invite you to you can pray this prayer with me right where your seat and you can whisper this prayer you can make it your own and receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior so if that's you just pray this prayer with me just just say Lord Jesus I thank you that you love me so much that you would come and die in a cross for me and I may not understand all of this today but one thing I know I need forgiveness and I'm gonna trust you as my Lord and Savior forgive me of my sins Lord come into my heart and life take over as my Lord and Savior I surrender my life to you and I look forward to that day whenever it might be that I'll spend eternity with you thank you for your love and your grace in my life I receive you by faith in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, great sermons by great preachers, jesus our messiah king, 1st and 2nd coming of jesus, Jesus's second coming, the book of zechariah explained, summary of zechariah, study of the minor prophets

Id: o8bhLWAd-14

Length: 41min 17sec (2477 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 24 2020