Roots: Stories of Renewal - Zerubbabel
Roots: Stories of Renewal
Zerubbabel
Pastor Charlie Weir
Matthew 1:12-17 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, 15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. 17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.
Zerubbabel is tasked with 2 main objectives
1) To rebuild the altar - Altar = Worship
2) To rebuild the temple - Temple = Identity
Altar + Temple = Presence.
Jeremiah is 29:11 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
All moral and spiritual failings have their genesis in the neglect of worship, identity and trust.
Jeremiah 10-14 10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
God’s Post Exile Promises Given Pre Exile
1) I will come to you.
2) I will fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.
3) I have good plans for you that include hope and a future.
Our Post Exile Relationship
1) You will call on me and I will answer you.
2) You will seek for me with your whole heart and I will be found by you.
Two everyday truths to grasp
1) Life is hard.
2) Life is harder when we stray from God’s presence, path and purposes.
Three Spiritual Truths to hold onto
1) God’s promises are good.
2) God’s promises aren’t canceled in exile.
3) God is always working His promise plan.
God’s renewal plan for you is not contingent on any past position or present condition.
An active people of God are always a threat to the enemy and he will respond accordingly. Renew the altar anyway! Worship anyway!
Discouragement feeds fear.
Discouragement feeds fear. Fear fosters delay. To get out of this stuck position you need a word from the Lord!
Ezra 5:1-2, “Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem. Then Zerubbabel set to work to rebuild the house of God.”
Haggai 1:3-12 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses while this house remains a ruin?” 5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” 7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.” 12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
God is not going to let you thrive living the way you are when you yet who He created you to be. God is not going to let you thrive where you are when you aren’t where He wants you to be.
Zechariah 4:6-10 (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.” 7 “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’” 8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. 10 “Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?”
Haggai 2:9 ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
Two everyday truths to grasp
1) Life is hard.
2) Life is harder when we stray from God’s presence, path and purposes.
Three Spiritual Truths to hold onto
1) God’s promises are good.
2) God’s promises aren’t canceled in exile.
3) God is always working His promise plan.
God’s renewal plan for you is not contingent on any past position or present condition.
Renew these two and God will renew you.
1. Your Worship. Altar.
2. Your Identity. Temple.