ZECHARIAH 4 HOW GODS PEOPLE GET THINGS DONE2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Zechariah 4 How Gods People Get Things Done

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. This morning as we look at Zechariah chapter 4, I've titled the message, How God's People Get Things Done. How is it that God's people get things done?

It's a big industry, actually, this idea of getting things done. There are all kinds of ways and pursuits that people have and systems that people have in order to help people accomplish things. And there is actually a system called getting things done. You might be familiar with that one if you've looked into productivity and that kind of thing at all. And in that system, you have different kinds of lists that go into different kinds of categories. And it's

my kind of system, right? It's list upon list upon list, and then you have lists of your lists, and it's like wonderful. But the idea is you follow this system, and then you're able to get everything done, and it's a way to, you know, be able to accomplish the massive amount of things that need to take place.

But what is the system? What is the approach that God wants us to have as his people in regards to our lives and his work? And here in Zechariah chapter 4, we have some insights about that. Because God is here speaking through the prophet Zechariah to a man named Zerubbabel.

And Zerubbabel was the governor of Jerusalem. He had a big task ahead of him. There was lots to do. It was overwhelming. The amount of work and the type of work and the opposition to it was really discouraging. And it was, well, for that reason, the work had not been ongoing. It had not been progressing. And so God raised up the prophet Zechariah along with Haggai and

to stir the people on, specifically Zerubbabel and the rest of the people, that they would continue the work of rebuilding the temple. Here's a quick look at the timeline to get the context a little bit. We're looking at the time period where the Jews have returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity.

And so in 586, Babylon conquered Jerusalem, destroyed it, left it in ruins, emptied out all the people, and the temple was destroyed. The city was left dormant until later on, the Persian Empire conquered Babylon.

And at that time, the Lord spoke to King Cyrus and said, hey, allow my people to go back and to rebuild the temple. And so Cyrus made the pronouncement. God's told me to build him a temple. All of you who are from that area, if you want to go back, you're free to go back.

So around 536 BC, about 50,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem with the specific task, the specific objective of rebuilding the temple that had been destroyed. And they got to work on the temple right away. They laid the foundation of the temple. They had the altar set up. And there was great celebration at that first part of the work being done. But soon after that, the work came to a stop. There were some obstacles.

There was some opposition. There was some difficulties that they faced. And they never picked up the work again for about 10 or 15 years until the Lord finally brought Haggai and Zechariah onto the scene and said, now it's time to get back to work. You've been distracted and caught up in your own lives. You've been focused on building your own houses and you've been suffering as a result because your focus and your attention is not where it needs to be. You've been distracted away from the things that God has for you.

And you need to get back to where God wants you to be. And you need to get back focused on the things that God wants you focused on. And then things will start to come together for you. And God will be able to bless you in the way that he wants to bless you again. And so here they are in the middle of this work that has been dormant and stopped for a long time. And now as they get back to work, they're faced with the difficulty again. They're faced with the discouragement again, the opposition again. And here through Zechariah,

The Lord is ministering to Zerubbabel, really the one in charge of the work, the foreman of the project as he was the governor of Jerusalem. He's encouraging him to trust in the Lord and to persevere and to press on, to get the things done that God wants to get done, even though

They're discouraging or hard or difficult and there's opposition. And so we're going to look at these things that the Lord encourages them with here in Zechariah chapter 4, four points we'll work through. Starting here in verses 1 through 6 for point number one. How do God's people get things done? Well, point number one this morning is by depending on God. First things first, here's where we need to start. Here's where we need to begin to look at getting things done in our lives and that is

We need to depend upon God. Looking at verse 1 and 2 again, it says, Here Zechariah is receiving a series of visions in this book.

Each chapter is kind of looking at those different visions, and chapter 3 was a different vision. But now the angel appears to him again, wakes him up. Hey, hey, Zechariah, wake up. And he's kind of like groggy. He's like, okay, what do you see? And he begins to see this vision from the Lord. It's a vision of a lampstand. Now this lampstand that he's envisioning is probably...

something that he is familiar with because God had established and had Moses fashion or, you know, Moses said, I forget the name of the guy, but anyways, in the tabernacle of the temple, there was the lampstand that God had described in the book of Exodus as he was laying out the details of the tabernacle. And it was a

a lampstand that had a base and then a post and then the branches that came off the post in order to have the seven lamps on this lampstand. And they were oil lamps. And so there would be this bowl, there would be the oil and there would be the wick. And these lamps would light the sanctuary inside the temple or the tabernacle.

And so as they're getting back to work on building the temple, this is something that he would be familiar with. And so he sees in his vision this lampstand. Now it's a little bit different because it describes a bowl on top of it or kind of a reservoir for oil with seven pipes leading to the lamps. And so there's these, you know, kind of system of providing oil to the lamps so that they stay lit.

There's a lot of interesting things that we could consider about the lampstand in the temple. The light that it provided, of course, was just a very practical feature. That's how you turned on the lights inside the tabernacle or the temple. That lampstand was the light that was provided inside that room. But of course, it's

filled with symbolism as well as talking about, you know, being the light of the world. Israel was called to be the light of the world. Jesus later on said, I am the light of the world. But he also looked to his disciples and said, you are the light of the world. And there is this light of the world concept. There's this light idea of the Lord using his people as

to be a witness, to shine brightly, and to declare who he is to the world around. And so there's some great things to consider if you want to dive into some of the ideas and symbolism of the lampstand. But on a practical level, the lampstand was a major responsibility of the priests because, well, God had declared that the lamps should never go out. The light should never go out inside the sanctuary.

And so the priests had the responsibility of maintaining the lamps. They had to make sure that it was, you know, ongoing, that it was not broken, that each of the lamps was dealt with and filled and trimmed and all of the things that were involved. Pastor David Guzik describes it this way.

He says, Maybe you're the kind of person who likes to burn candles.

And with candles, at least the way that we have them today, right? It's wax. It's not oil. It's a little bit different. And so it burns down and then you throw that one out and you go buy a new one for $45 and you, you know, start to burn the new one. And...

You could imagine if instead of that process, if you had to then like refill the wax and reset the wick and, you know, continue to keep that burning, how that would be a constant point of vigilance for you. And that's what it was like for the priests. They had to ongoing, continually make sure that these things were maintained and kept burning. But here in this vision, the Lord's set it up differently. In this vision,

The lampstand is fueled continually because there are these two olive trees. It says in verse 3, "...two olive trees are by it, one at the right hand of the bull and the other at its left."

And so right here, as a part of the lampstand, this whole system that God has set up in this vision, is that these olive trees provide the oil directly to the lampstand so that it is continually, automatically refilled and fueled.

So that the light is ongoing. It's not a constant source of stress and vigilance and effort in order to keep the light burning as it once was. But here in this vision, it's something that God has set up to continue to happen as a natural result of the produce of these olive trees. And so here in this vision, God is showing this difference, this contrast of something that is happening by provision and

as opposed to by man's maintenance. In verse 4, Zechariah is confused. He says, So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. So he answered and 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 of hosts.

Here the angel now explains the message of this vision. It's a visual, it's an illustration to kind of help paint the picture, but to bring clarity, he gives the message that goes along with it. The summary of this vision is, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel, you're stressed, you're anxious.

You're overwhelmed. You're discouraged. There's a big task ahead. You're not sure how to fulfill it, how to complete it. It troubles you. Here's the word of the Lord to you. Here's how the work of God is going to be accomplished. Here's how you're going to be able to fulfill what God has put in front of you. And it's not going to be by your might. And it's not going to be by your power. It's going to be by my spirit.

Pastor David Guzik, no, not dude, that was the last one. Javerna McGee says this about might and power. He says, might is a word for human resources, such as physical strength, ability, or wealth. Power also denotes human strength, physical, material, and mental strength. And so the message is this, it will not be by your cleverness, your ability, or your strength that the temple will be rebuilt, but by the Spirit of God.

This is a message for Zerubbabel, but it's also a message for us. The work that God has called you to, and as we think about this and try to place it in the context of our own lives, I would remind you that, of course, these things apply to our natural application of these. That is, things that happen, you know, church events and specific, like, related to the Lord and our relationship to the Lord and service to the Lord, events and activities and things that we're engaged in.

And so you're serving in children's ministry. How is that work going to get done? It's not by might. It's nor by power. But it's by the Spirit of God. And we can try and we do try to do things in our might and our strength. And we find ourselves lacking in those resources and we're overwhelmed by the work.

The worship ministry, if you're going to be involved in that, it cannot be by might. It cannot be by power. It needs to be a work of the Holy Spirit. If you're going to be witnessing or praying or teaching or sharing or those kinds of things, this is a message that applies directly to us. But I would also encourage you to consider beyond the realm of this property and this building and these walls and those traditional, what we might call ministry type things.

Because God is interested in your whole life, not just this one little piece of it.

And your life is meant to be lived out in service of God, not just a part of it, but the way that you are at home, the way that you are in the role that you fulfill as a husband or as a wife, or the way that you fulfill the role of an employee or an employer, the way that you fulfill the role of a neighbor or a member of the community, the way that you are in the rest of your life is also part of God's plan for you.

And like Zerubbabel, you might have some discouraging things that are right in your view, that are facing you, and some obstacles that are difficult. And you might be, like Zerubbabel, anxious and stressed and worried and wondering, how on earth am I able to do, is this going to come to pass? How on earth am I going to be able to accomplish what it is that God has set before me? And maybe God has set before you a career. And it's a challenge.

Or maybe he set before you some type of difficulty that you are going to be facing. And again, as we look into the year 2020, we can see, we understand there's some challenges ahead. There's some twists and curves and things that we need to prepare for. And as we prepare to face those things and prepare to fulfill what God has called us to do in all aspects of our life, this message to Zerubbabel rings true for us and is an important reminder that

We need to approach these things not by might, not by power, but by the Spirit of God. In other words, we need to be depending on God, not looking at our own strength or resources, not looking at what we have to provide, not looking at what we are able to put forth and relying upon that. But our dependence is on God.

I've often shared the quote from John Corson, that every Christian should be involved in something that will fail unless God is involved. And it's something to consider. What are you involved in that will fail unless God is involved, unless God comes through, unless the Holy Spirit works in your life? You're involved in those things whether you're conscious of them or not. Your marriage will fail unless God is involved.

Your work will fail unless God is involved in, and there is a need for us to recognize that and then to look and depend upon God to meet the needs that we have. To look and depend upon God to provide. And this picture, this vision is that provision, that oil no longer manufactured by the priests in this vision.

That oil no longer maintained and then poured in and every few hours having to make sure it's restocked. But no, it's a picture of depending on God. God is going to be providing at just the right time all the oil that is needed. The Holy Spirit provides for us everything that we need from God. The strength that we need, the wisdom that we need, the might that we need, the power that we need, the energy that we need.

Zerubbabel, you can't depend upon your brilliant speeches to stir up the nation of Israel. And it's your clever words that are going to really, you know, motivate the people to get involved in the work and participate and accomplish the things. Zerubbabel, you can't depend upon a good night's sleep so that you wake up refreshed with a new set of energy and, okay, now I'm going to do the work.

You can't depend upon your strength, your resources, your cleverness, as J. Vernon McGee says. You need to depend upon God. You need to depend upon God and trust him to provide all of those things that are necessary. Now, moving on to verses 7 through 9, we get the second thing to consider this morning. How God's people get things done, first of all, by depending on God. But secondly, by not giving up.

And this is one thing that every one of us will face. The temptation to give up, to quit, to lay down too soon. Verse 7 says, Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain, and he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace. Grace to it. God here issues a challenge. Who are you, O great mountain? Who do you think you are? You think you're great, mountain?

But before Zerubbabel, God says, you shall become a plain. Now, as I imagine the details surrounding this and what's happening in Zerubbabel's life when this happens, I imagine it this way. Now, this isn't directly stated, so I can't say it's exactly what happened, but I imagine it this way. I imagine that Zerubbabel, this isn't the first idea of a mountain that he's had when the Lord says, who are you, O great mountain?

I imagine Zerubbabel looking at the situation, looking at the work at hand, and literally there's a mountain of rubble because the temple was completely destroyed. There was rubble everywhere. Even before they could begin to build, they had to clean off all the rubble. And so there is this mountain. And I think perhaps Zerubbabel was looking at the work to do, looking at the cleanup efforts, looking at the building efforts, looking at the obstacles in his path, and thinking of them in terms of this situation,

is a great mountain. This is a big pass to cross. This is a big peak to scale to the top of. This is something that is impossible to overcome. I would suggest God is meeting Zerubbabel right where he's at. He's thinking in terms of a great mountain, and God says, who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain."

In Zerubbabel's eyes, the work ahead, the challenges, the obstacles, not only was there the physical aspect of it that was daunting and huge, but there was also the people around the nation of Israel that were in opposition to the rebuilding of the temple. There was real obstacles in his path, real obstacles that he faced. Mountains, from his perspective. And God says, those mountains shall be squished down and they shall become a plain.

It's going to be level ground. It's going to be a work of God, by the Spirit of God. It will be done by the grace of God. And the point is, the work will be done. Zerubbabel needed to be encouraged. Don't give up because you see this great mountain. Don't give up because the task ahead is so overwhelming. The challenge ahead and the opposition that you face, oh, it's so discouraging. Don't give up.

Who are you, O great mountain? God issues a challenge to the mountains of our lives. Who do you think you are? You can't stand in the path of what God wants to do and the work that God wants to accomplish. No mountain can stand in your way. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, unbelief makes mountains out of molehills, but faith in God makes mountains into plains.

We don't have a lot of mole hills around here, but maybe you have gopher mounds in your yard. You're familiar with that, right? Sometimes we look at those gopher mounds of our life and we're like, it's a mountain. God says, it's a gopher hole. What are you talking about? It's not as big as you make it out to be, but unbelief magnifies these gopher mounds so that we feel like they're mountains. This is impossible. This is never going to happen. And there's a lot of mountains that are just imagined mountains. Now,

There are also mountains that are actual mountains and we face big challenges and there's big opposition in our lives. But whether it's real or imagined, when we trust God, when we go back to dependence upon God, God is able to make those mountains into plains.

Now, we like that picture of making mountains into plains, right? All right. So I don't have to like climb up rocks. I don't have to like face, you know, the big scary peak. I don't have to do all that effort to get to the top. Okay, I'm just going to kick back, let God make it a plain, and then I can just walk across on flat ground. We kind of want that picture. We like that picture. But I would encourage you to just think about the realities of what would take place here. God was not saying Zerubbabel. Here's what I want you to do.

Go right across from the temple mount and just lay on the field like this. And then watch my spirit work. You're going to just see that temple come together while you just lay there on a picnic blanket. And you're just going to lay there. It's going to be nice. Just watch it. That's not what the Lord was saying. That's not what God was going to do. Zerubbabel still had to be involved in the work. He had to sweat. He had to lift rocks. He had to move things. He had to, you know, put materials in place and build the temple together.

He had to deal with the people that were opposing. He had to, you know, talk to the people that needed to be encouraged and included in the work. God wasn't telling him, just lay there, don't do anything while the Holy Spirit does all the work. He's saying, no, as you get to work, the Holy Spirit is going to provide the resources that you need. It wasn't that he was to do nothing, but it also wasn't that Zerubbabel, just go to bed at the end of the day, get a good night's rest. When you wake up in the morning, it's all going to be done.

What's going to happen overnight? That's not what God was saying either. After this prophecy, as they continue on in the work of rebuilding the temple, it takes another four or five years for that temple to be completed. And so there's going to be this ongoing process of efforts being exerted, energy being expended, great steps of faith and trusting in God and dependence upon God. While there's these opposition that is huge and these mountains that loom over them,

And for the next four or five years, he's going to have to walk this path. When God says the mountains will become plains, it doesn't mean tomorrow. It doesn't mean they're done tonight. Sometimes this kind of picture and these kinds of promises from God, we picture like a gigantic event. The Lord says, you shall be free indeed. And we're looking for and we want that immediate resolving of that promise. And God can do that. And sometimes God does do that.

But I would suggest we also need to realize and recognize most of the time the way that God fulfills those things is through a long process of time with us involved, exerting efforts, facing fears, dealing with difficulties. We picture the mountain becoming a plane overnight, real fast, God just squishes it, right? But maybe the mountain is going to become a plane as you carry away a bucket full at a time.

The end result is the mountain becomes a plane. God's with you the whole way. He's providing the resources. He's got the plan. It works out. It is what God wants. It is the best way, but it's not always the way that we picture it. For that reason, point number two is don't give up. Because we want the issue to be resolved. We want the mountains to be removed. But we really want that to be over fast, without our involvement, without us having to do anything, or at least, you know, with only a little bit. But

It might be with excruciating pain and great effort for the next four or five years that God removes that mountain from your life. What kind of mountains are you facing? Are you facing a mountain of debt? How does God remove? How does a mountain of debt become a plane? Well, maybe your approach is God wants me to win the lottery. And so that's how I'm going to make that mountain of debt a plane. God could do that. I would suggest that's probably not the way that God wants to do it.

Instead, it's going to be by you making difficult choices about your finances, you arranging things the way that he wants them to be arranged, you working hard and over time with great effort by depending on the Lord, that mountain will become a plain. How do you overcome a mountain of issues in your marriage?

I mean, we want it to just be, well, okay, we'll go to one event, one counseling session. It's all resolved. It's taken care of, praise the Lord. Yes, God could do that. It's probably not how he's going to do it. He's probably going to do it over the next four or five years with you putting in some effort, trusting in the Lord, relying upon the Holy Spirit, and working through. Not escaping, not avoiding, not, you know, just let's pretend like we never had issues. No, no, but working through.

those things and those mountains will become plains. How do you work through a mountain of health issues? You know, you get the news and there is this condition and the path ahead. It's a tough one. It's a difficult one. Can God heal instantly? Yes, absolutely. Should we ask for that? Absolutely. Sure. Can we demand it? Absolutely not. We come back to it's your will, not my will.

And God's will might be to heal you completely and immediately. Or God's will might be for you over the next four or five years to work through those procedures, to work through that recovery. And he's going to provide the strength. And by his spirit, as you depend upon him, you will have everything that you need. But don't give up because there's a difficult path ahead and because the mountains loom and you don't see them being removed away immediately. Don't give up.

God is still with you. You'll still be involved. It will still take energy and effort and you'll expend greatly, but those mountains will become plains. God says in verse seven, and he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it. The capstone was the final piece of the construction, the final stone on the block wall. He explains in verse eight and nine that Zerubbabel was there when the foundation was laid. He started the work.

God promises you will be there to complete the work. You're going to put the final stone in its place. This isn't going to be you get most of the way there, but then the next generation finishes the work. No, you're going to finish the work, Zerubbabel. You're going to put the capstone in place, and it's going to be with a declaration of grace, a proclamation of the grace of God, because it's by the Spirit of God.

Although Zerubbabel is going to be involved, although he's going to be expending energy, although he's going to be engaged in the work and having to participate for the next four or five years, at the end, he will be able to testify, this is all by the grace of God. Because the work that will be completed is far greater than what Zerubbabel was able to accomplish. Even though he's involved and engaged, it's not by works, still by grace. And God is going to do much more

than Zerubbabel could do or could think. And he's going to see it to completion. It reminds us of Paul's promise in Philippians chapter 1. The work that God began to do in you, he will be faithful to complete. And so that mountain ahead of you, that road ahead, that path ahead that seems impossible, that seems impassable, you're going to get to see the fulfillment of the plan that God has for you. As you walk with him, depending upon him and not giving up,

The enemy wants to discourage you so that you give up, so that you don't engage. And Zerubbabel would not have experienced setting the capstone in place if he had quit and walked away from the work. Even though it's a work of the Spirit, it's the Holy Spirit working with him. It's the same with us. In the mountains that we face, as we depend upon God and call out to God to pour out his Holy Spirit upon us, we have what we need to face the roads that lie ahead.

We must not give up because God will make that mountain a plain. Moving on to verse 10, we get the third point for this morning. How God's people get things done? By faithfulness in small things. By faithfulness in small things. As we depend upon God and are determined not to give up, there's little things that we need to be doing. Check out verse 10. For who has despised the day of small things?

As the Lord continues on, he asks the question, If I were to ask for a show of hands, I'm not going to. I think probably all of us would, yeah, I've despised the day of small things. We all know what that's like. And it's very easy to

to despise the day of small things when you're facing huge mountains and obstacles. When you're facing the mountain and then all you have is this little thing. You have $40,000 in debt, but you have 50 cents to contribute towards it. And you despise the day of, what's 50 cents? I might as well just go get a soda. This isn't going to do anything to the debt. We despise the days of small things. There's big tasks at hand.

But I don't have anything to contribute. It's not even worth contributing. I have so little. God will allow us to go through days of small things, seasons where it feels like we have nothing to offer, but don't despise them. God doesn't despise them. He goes on in verse 10 to say, these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

These seven, he says, are the eyes of the Lord, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth. So here you have the eyes of the Lord. He's paying attention. He's scanning the earth and he zeroes in on, here's Zerubbabel. And he gets God's attention because in his hands is a plumb line and the Lord rejoices. Now, a plumb line is not a tool for doing things.

A plumb line is basically a string with a weight at the end of it that comes to a point. And the idea of it is you set that up when you're building a wall so that you can see if the wall that you're building is straight. It's a measurement tool. It's like a level or a measuring tape. And so here is Zerubbabel. He's got the plumb line in his hand. It doesn't say the Lord rejoiced to see the shovel in Zerubbabel's hand or the hammer.

Back a few years ago when we did the remodel and we gutted this sanctuary and rebuilt a bunch of it, I showed up for work on my first day of work with my new boss, Jeff. I showed up for work and I had in my hand a tape measure. And Jeff rejoiced to see the tape measure in my hand. No, he didn't care. You know how to work a nail gun? No idea. You have a hammer? Nope. Actually, I did. But it's insignificant, we think. It's just a plumb line. It's just a tape measure. It's just a level. It doesn't do very much.

but it's all I have to offer. God says, look, I rejoice. It's a little step, but it's a step in the right direction. And God rejoices. Those little steps, those movements in the direction of obedience cause the Lord to rejoice. And we can look at the little thing and despise it. Remember when Jesus was there hanging out at the temple and he kind of nudged his disciples. He said, hey, look at this person giving.

It was the widow and she gave the two mites. Trade little. All around her were religious leaders pouring buckets of money into the treasuries, but here she is. She gave these two little pieces. We could easily despise the days of small things. The Lord rejoices. Any movement in the direction of obedience is cause for rejoicing. Yes, there's a lot of work to do. Yes, that's a little contribution towards that work. But you know what those little things that we give to the Lord...

But those little things that we do in obedience to the Lord, when we take up that level in our hand, that can't build a wall. But God can multiply those little things that we give to him. Remember the feeding of the 5,000? The disciples were like, hey, send everybody away. There's this huge crowd. They've been with us for days. They're starving. We can't feed them. Send them away. Jesus says, you feed them. And they're like, all we have is five loaves and two fish.

That's it. Small things. What is this among so many? This is never going to work. Jesus says, have him take a seat. And God multiplied that little contribution by a little boy to feed the multitude. That's the way that God works. And so faithfulness in small things is crucial. It's important. Don't despise them. Be faithful in them. Yes, you only have 50 cents toward that 40,000. Give it.

Pay it. Be faithful to what God's called you to do because God is able to use those things exponentially. First of all, all those little things add up. That's just a practical reality that is hard for us to understand sometimes. All those little things add up, but then God is also able to multiply. He's able to take that little contribution and do much more with it than we would have thought, than we would have imagined. Commentator Alexander McLaren says, "'Our task is to do the little we can do.'"

and leave the rest with God. Sure that he will work all the fragments into a perfect whole and content to do the smallest bit of service for him. When the Lord wants to bring someone to salvation, it's a mountain of a task. There's great opposition. And perhaps you imagine and you dream about having that huge conversion happen right there in the conversation that you're in the midst of. Perhaps God would do that. Or perhaps your role is to give a little contribution to that whole work of salvation.

Perhaps your work in that is to be a witness in the way that you smile, in the way that you behave, in the way that you relate or handle the situation. Perhaps it's just a simple thing that God has set before you. Don't despise the days of small things. Be faithful in those little things that God puts upon your heart and sets before you and prompts you to do. God is able to use those things exponentially. Do you think that God is only pleased when Davids conquer Goliaths?

It's not just those one-time big events. God was also pleased with David when he was hanging out with the sheepfold, fulfilling his role and doing what God had called him to do, making up songs. And don't despise the days of small things. Be faithful in the little things. They all add up. Pastor Charles Spurgeon encourages us with this. God accepts your little works if they are done in faith in his dear son.

God will give success to your little works. God will educate you by your little works to do greater works. And your little works may call out others who shall do greater works by far, by far than ever you shall be able to accomplish. God's doing a work in you through the little works. And might be preparing you for bigger works. Or it might be setting an example to encourage other people to be faithful in their little works. Or it might be something that spurs on someone else to go forward and far and do great things for God. But

It all begins back here with this faithfulness in the little thing. Don't despise the day of small things. Depend upon God. Don't give up in the face of the mountains and opposition. And even when you only have a simple tool in your hand that doesn't even do hardly anything, be faithful. Be faithful to walk, to trust, to pray, to have that conversation, to take that step, to do that work, to give that money, whatever it might be.

Be faithful in the little things because God can multiply them to accomplish his purposes. Well, we're going to finish up in verses 11 through 14 and just cover these verses fairly briefly. But here's what it says. Point number four is by passing on what God provides. Here's how God's people get things done. By passing along what it is that God has given to us. Verse 11 says, Then I answered and said to him, What are these two olive trees at the right of the lampstand and at its left?

And I further answered and said to him, what are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains? Then he answered me and said, do you not know what these are? And I said, no, my Lord. So he said, these are the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth. Now these verses are interesting because, well...

Nobody can say with certainty exactly all of the details of what God is saying here. There's a lot of speculation and questions about this. In verse 14, as God explains it, he says, these are the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth. And there's a range of ideas about, well, wait, who are the two anointed ones? Some look at this and believe it to be

specific into their day that it's Zerubbabel and Joshua who were there on the site doing the work of the rebuilding of the temple. It was the governor and the priests, Zerubbabel and Joshua. And that's possible. Some see it more as like their offices. So it's the role of king and the role of priest. These are the two anointed ones. And these are the two that God even gave instruction, right? Anoint him as king, anoint him as prophet, that there was that anointing part of that role. And so perhaps that is.

Some look at the two anointed ones and say it's the law and the prophets. Some say it's Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Some say it's forward looking at the two witnesses in the book of Revelation. Some say it's the Old Testament and the New Testament. So there's all this discussion about this. Who are these two anointed ones? And I'm here to resolve what people have not been able to resolve for thousands of years before me because I'm far wiser, far more in tune. No, you can wrestle with those things.

But I think finding the specific of those two is not really the point. Whoever the two anointed ones are, the point is that they're conduits for God. You have the olive trees, but then you have a branch from each tree that feeds the oil to the lamp. The olive tree provides the oil. It's passed through the branch to light the lamp, to fuel the lamp. Whoever these two anointed ones are,

They're conduits for God. They're anointed by God, but not just for their own sake. The anointing, the oil passes through them to fuel the light. In verse 12, he says, what are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains? These branches are passing along the oil from the tree. I would encourage you to consider what Jesus said. I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. What God desires for us in approaching the things that he set before us and the path that lies ahead of us, well, he wants us to get those things done, first of all, by depending on him, by not giving up even when there's great opposition, by being faithful to do the little things that seem insignificant, but in obedience to him and in faith in him, we do those things by passing on what God provides to us.

God is able to do great things. God is able to do tremendous works. Think about what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1. He says that God comforts us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God. We go through things, we receive comfort from God, and then we are able to pass on and minister to others, not with our own resources, not with our might or power, but with

with the oil that God has provided to us. In Ephesians 4.32, he says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. We're able to pass on the oil of forgiveness because we've received that oil of forgiveness from God. Peter encourages us in 1 Peter 4, in spiritual gifts and our roles in ministry, if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. You receive from God and then you say what God said. You don't say what you think or what you want or what you hope.

You speak on behalf of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it with the ability which God supplies, that in all things he may be glorified. The way that God gets things done, the way that God's people get things done, rather, is not through our resources, not with our ideas, not with our strength, not with our cleverness, but by depending on God. And we can do great things. Mountains can become plains if we will just refuse to give up in the face of discouragement.

and continue to depend on God and to call out for God to work in us through his Holy Spirit, to be faithful in those small things, those small days, and contribute those little things that seem insignificant, but in obedience to God, trusting him to do the work with confidence that he will complete what he began in us. We can do those little things, passing on what God provides to us.

Whether that be wisdom, insight, comfort, finances, help, strength, whatever it might be. We become a light. Remember, all of this feeds the lamp to light the world. We become the light of the world. And we get amazing things done for God. And we depend on Him, refuse to give up, and we're faithful in the little things. And when we pass on what God has provided to us. As we head into this new year, 2020,

Oh, let's allow God to do great things and to get so much done, not on our timeframe, not on our timeline, but on his, not on our terms, but on his, not in our strength, not with our ideas, but with his. Let's be great witnesses unto him. Let's pray. Lord, as we wind down this year and head into the new one, we do look forward to what you want to do. And yet, Lord, we recognize that even though you're doing the work, Lord, there's challenges and

There's responsibilities that we have. There's difficulties that we will face. Help us, God, to have a consciousness of our need for you continually. Lord, that we would not forget and rely upon our power or might. Lord, help us to depend upon you, to continually call out to you and receive from you the filling and the baptizing of your Holy Spirit. Lord, would you fill us now as we confess our need to you, as we invite you to,

Fill us with your Holy Spirit that we might be enabled, equipped, and empowered to face the road ahead, to address the difficulties, to do the work that you want to do. I pray, God, that you would encourage those who are tempted to give up, those who are tempted to just lay aside and get out of the path that you've set before them. Lord, would you stir them up, remind them what you can do, how mountains can become plains,

Help us, Lord, to endure. We have need of endurance, that we might endure and trust in you and depend upon you for a long time to watch that work unfold. Help us, God, to rejoice with you in the days of small things, to celebrate when we take steps of obedience, even if they seem like little tiny baby steps that don't even mean anything. Help us, Lord, not to walk by sight and how we feel, to walk by faith and know that those little things

They're your tools, and you're able to magnify yourself and your work through the little that you ask us to do. And I pray, God, that you would help us to be your witnesses, lights to the world around us as we pass on the comfort, the forgiveness, the hope, the exhortation, the grace that you've given to us. As your children, Lord, we pray that you would help us to walk in the path that you have for us, that we would get things done.

Not the things that we plan, but the things that you plan. Not for our glory, but for your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name.